Sephora
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "numberer" or "recorder".
Name Census estimates that about 959 living Americans carry the first name Sephora. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sephora today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sephora births was 2014 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sephora. 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 Sephora with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
959
~ 1 in 357,408 Americans
Peak year
2014
59 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,090
Tracked since 1974
Census
Sephora in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 862 people with the first name Sephora, which placed it at #13,861 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
#13,861
National first-name rank
People counted
862
862 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
54.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sephora
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sephora is Black at 54.4%. The next largest groups are White (19.1%) and Hispanic (16.6%). 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 Sephora 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 Sephora at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American54.4% · 469
- White19.1% · 165
- Hispanic or Latino16.6% · 143
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.8% · 41
- Two or more races4.1% · 35
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 9
Popularity
Sephora: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sephora from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 466 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sephora remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sephora 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 Sephora during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sephoras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Florida, New York, California recorded the most babies named Sephora, while Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 48 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sephora
The given name Sephora is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language. It is a feminine name derived from the Hebrew word "sphyr," which means "beautiful." The name's earliest known usage can be traced back to ancient Judaic texts and scriptures from around the 2nd century BCE.
In the biblical Book of Exodus, there is a reference to a place called "Sephora," which was near Mount Sinai. This location is thought to be the inspiration for the name's emergence. Some scholars also suggest that the name may have been influenced by the ancient Egyptian word "sefr," meaning "to be pleasing or beautiful."
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Sephora was a woman mentioned in the Book of Exodus, who was the wife of Moses. She is described as a Midianite woman whom Moses married while in exile from Egypt.
Another notable figure named Sephora was a 3rd-century Christian saint and martyr from Caesarea Maritima, located in present-day Israel. She was executed during the reign of Roman Emperor Diocletian for refusing to renounce her Christian faith.
In the 5th century, there was a Sephora who was a Byzantine Empress and the wife of Emperor Leo I. She played a significant role in the political and religious affairs of the Byzantine Empire during her husband's reign.
During the Middle Ages, a Sephora was recorded as a notable abbess and leader of a convent in the Italian city of Verona. She was renowned for her wisdom and leadership abilities within the religious community.
In the 16th century, there was a Sephora who was a renowned Jewish scholar and philosopher from the Ottoman Empire. She was known for her contributions to the study of the Kabbalah and her influential writings on Jewish mysticism.
While the name Sephora has ancient roots, it has remained in use throughout various cultures and time periods, often associated with beauty, wisdom, and religious or historical significance.
People
Sephora + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sephora 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
Sephora: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sephora?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 959 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sephora 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 357,408 US residents.
Is Sephora a common name?
We classify Sephora as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 972 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sephora most popular?
The single biggest year for Sephora was 2014, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sephora is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sephora in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 862 people with the name Sephora, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,861 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 Sephora 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 Sephora?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sephora appears almost entirely female. Of the 865 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Sephora?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sephora is Black at 54.4%. The next largest groups are White (19.1%) and Hispanic (16.6%). 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 Sephora most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sephora in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.4% (469 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 Sephora in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sephora a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sephora 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 Sephora still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sephora 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 Sephora 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 are called Sephora?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.