Saw
A Buddhist name of Burmese origin meaning "born on Monday".
Name Census estimates that about 276 living Americans carry the first name Saw. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Saw today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saw births was 2015 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saw. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
276
~ 1 in 1,241,864 Americans
Peak year
2015
31 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,191
Tracked since 2008
Census
Saw in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,148 people with the first name Saw, which placed it at #7,175 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,175
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,148 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saw
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saw is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.1%. The next largest groups are White (1.7%) and Black (0.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Saw described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Saw at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.1% · 2,065
- White1.7% · 36
- Black or African American0.9% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 16
- Two or more races0.6% · 12
Popularity
Saw: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saw from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 185 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Saw remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saw by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Saw during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saws live
Origin
Meaning and history of Saw
The name Saw has its origins in the Burmese language, where it means "born on Monday." It is derived from the Sanskrit word "Soma," which refers to the moon and is associated with the second day of the week in the traditional Burmese calendar.
The earliest recorded use of the name Saw can be traced back to the 11th century in Myanmar (formerly Burma), where it was commonly given to children born on Mondays. It was a popular name among the Bamar people, the dominant ethnic group in the region, and was often used by members of the royal family and nobility.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Saw was Saw Naung, a powerful Burmese monarch who ruled the Toungoo Dynasty from 1551 to 1581. He is credited with unifying the Burmese kingdoms and expanding the empire's territory through military conquests.
Another prominent individual with the name Saw was Saw Maung, a Burmese lawyer and politician who played a significant role in the country's independence movement in the early 20th century. He served as the first Prime Minister of Burma from 1948 to 1956.
In the field of literature, Saw Tun was a renowned Burmese writer and poet who lived from 1923 to 2001. He was highly regarded for his contributions to modern Burmese poetry and his efforts to preserve the country's literary heritage.
Saw Nwe Htun, born in 1931, was a celebrated Burmese artist known for her vibrant paintings depicting traditional Burmese life and culture. Her works have been exhibited internationally and are considered important representations of Myanmar's artistic heritage.
Saw Waing, a Burmese resistance fighter and leader of the Karen National Liberation Army, played a significant role in the ongoing ethnic conflict in Myanmar. He was born in 1948 and led the Karen armed struggle against the Burmese military junta for several decades.
While the name Saw has its roots in Burmese culture, it has also been adopted by other ethnic groups in Myanmar, such as the Karen and Shan peoples. It continues to be a popular name in the region, reflecting the rich cultural diversity and historical significance of this ancient name.
People
Saw + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saw as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Saw: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saw?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 276 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saw going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,241,864 US residents.
Is Saw a common name?
We classify Saw as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 278 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saw most popular?
The single biggest year for Saw was 2015, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saw is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saw in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,148 people with the name Saw, or 0.71 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,175 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Saw in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Saw?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saw leans strongly male. 1,949 people counted with this name were male (91.0%), compared with 193 female bearers (9.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Saw?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saw is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.1%. The next largest groups are White (1.7%) and Black (0.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Saw most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Saw in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.1% (2,065 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Saw in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saw a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Saw in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Saw still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saw in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Saw can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Saw?
Find out how many people share the name Saw on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.