Sedra
Biblical feminine name derived from Hebrew meaning "order" or "passage".
Name Census estimates that about 333 living Americans carry the first name Sedra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sedra today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sedra births was 2024 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sedra. 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 Sedra with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
333
~ 1 in 1,029,292 Americans
Peak year
2024
41 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,735
Tracked since 1987
Census
Sedra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 376 people with the first name Sedra, which placed it at #25,264 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
#25,264
National first-name rank
People counted
376
376 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sedra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sedra is White at 68.1%. The next largest groups are Black (12.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.8%). 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 Sedra 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 Sedra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.1% · 256
- Black or African American12.8% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.8% · 37
- Two or more races6.4% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Sedra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sedra from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 162 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sedra 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 Sedra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sedras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Michigan, New York recorded the most babies named Sedra, while Texas, New York, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sedra
The given name Sedra has its origins in the Aramaic language, which was widely spoken in the ancient Middle East. The name is believed to have emerged during the Babylonian era, around the 6th century BCE. It is derived from the Aramaic root word "sedra," which means "order" or "arrangement."
In ancient times, the name Sedra was predominantly found among Jewish communities in the region of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) and the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine). The earliest recorded instances of the name can be traced back to the Babylonian Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism compiled between the 3rd and 5th centuries CE.
One of the most notable historical figures bearing the name Sedra was Sedra ben Hiyya, a prominent Babylonian Jewish scholar who lived in the 9th century CE. He was renowned for his expertise in Talmudic literature and was considered a leading authority on Jewish law during his time.
Another important figure was Sedra ben Yoseph, a 12th-century Jewish philosopher and poet from Spain. He authored several works on Jewish mysticism and was influential in the development of Kabbalah, the esoteric tradition of Jewish mysticism.
In the 14th century, Sedra ben Yahya, a Jewish scholar from Morocco, made significant contributions to the study of Hebrew grammar and linguistics. His work, "Sefer Ha-Shorashim" (Book of Roots), became a seminal text in the field of Hebrew lexicography.
During the Renaissance period, Sedra Azriel, an Italian Jewish scholar born in the late 15th century, gained recognition for his expertise in astronomy and mathematics. He wrote extensively on various scientific topics and was a respected figure in the intellectual circles of his time.
In more recent history, Sedra Raphael, a Syrian Jewish writer and activist born in the early 20th century, played a significant role in advocating for the rights of Jewish communities in the Middle East. Her influential writings shed light on the experiences and struggles of Jewish minorities in the region.
While the name Sedra has its roots in ancient Aramaic and Jewish culture, it has since been adopted across various communities and regions, though its historical origins can be traced back to the Middle East and the rich cultural heritage of the Aramaic language.
People
Sedra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sedra 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
Sedra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sedra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 333 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sedra 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 1,029,292 US residents.
Is Sedra a common name?
We classify Sedra as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 336 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sedra most popular?
The single biggest year for Sedra was 2024, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sedra 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 Sedra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 376 people with the name Sedra, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,264 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 Sedra 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 Sedra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sedra leans strongly female. 370 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.1%). 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 Sedra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sedra is White at 68.1%. The next largest groups are Black (12.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.8%). 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 Sedra most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sedra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.1% (256 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 Sedra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sedra a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sedra 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 Sedra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sedra 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 Sedra 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 have the name Sedra?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Sedra, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.