Sayda
A feminine Arabic name meaning "most fortunate" or "joyful".
Name Census estimates that about 365 living Americans carry the first name Sayda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sayda today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sayda births was 2001 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sayda. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Sayda with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
365
~ 1 in 939,053 Americans
Peak year
2001
19 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,320
Tracked since 1980
Census
Sayda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,048 people with the first name Sayda, which placed it at #12,030 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
#12,030
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,048 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
82.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sayda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sayda is Hispanic at 82.2%. The next largest groups are White (7.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%). 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 Sayda 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 Sayda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino82.2% · 861
- White7.5% · 79
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.6% · 59
- Black or African American3.4% · 36
- Two or more races1.0% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 3
Popularity
Sayda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sayda from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 145 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Sayda remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sayda 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 Sayda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saydas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sayda
The name Sayda has its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "sayyidah," which means "lady" or "mistress." The name has been in use for centuries in the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sayda can be found in the Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam. In the Qur'an, the word "sayyidah" is used to refer to revered women, such as the Virgin Mary and the Queen of Sheba.
In Islamic history, Sayda was also the name of a famous Moroccan Sufi saint who lived in the 12th century. She was known for her piety and spiritual teachings, and her tomb in Fez, Morocco, became a popular pilgrimage site.
Another notable figure named Sayda was Sayda Lutfullah, a 16th-century Ottoman princess and the daughter of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of poets and scholars.
In the 19th century, Sayda was the name of a prominent Egyptian feminist and activist, Sayda Zeinab. She was one of the pioneers of the women's rights movement in Egypt and fought for women's education and legal rights.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Sayda in literature can be found in the Arabic poetry of the 7th century. The famous poet Al-Khansa, who lived during the pre-Islamic era, wrote a famous elegy for her brothers, in which she refers to them as "sayyideen" (lords).
Throughout history, the name Sayda has been associated with nobility, grace, and respect. It has been borne by numerous influential women, from saints and princesses to activists and poets, reflecting the rich cultural heritage of the Arabic-speaking world.
People
Sayda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sayda 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
Sayda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sayda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 365 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sayda 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 939,053 US residents.
Is Sayda a common name?
We classify Sayda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 371 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sayda most popular?
The single biggest year for Sayda was 2001, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sayda is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sayda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,048 people with the name Sayda, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,030 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 Sayda 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 Sayda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sayda appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,059 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Sayda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sayda is Hispanic at 82.2%. The next largest groups are White (7.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%). 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 Sayda most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Sayda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.2% (861 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 Sayda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sayda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sayda in the SSA data are female. 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 Sayda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sayda 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 Sayda 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 Sayda?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.