Sierra
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "mountain range".
Name Census estimates that about 97,738 living Americans carry the first name Sierra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sierra today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sierra births was 1998 (5,853 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sierra. 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 Sierra with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Sierra is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 269 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
98K
~ 1 in 3,507 Americans
Peak year
1998
5,853 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2006 SSA rank
#596
Tracked since 1940
Census
Sierra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 85,587 people with the first name Sierra, which placed it at #616 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
#616
National first-name rank
People counted
86K
85,587 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
28.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sierra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sierra is White at 63.5%. The next largest groups are Black (13.4%) and Hispanic (12.7%). 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 Sierra 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 Sierra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.5% · 54,354
- Black or African American13.4% · 11,500
- Hispanic or Latino12.7% · 10,832
- Two or more races7.9% · 6,736
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 1,140
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 1,025
Gender
Gender distribution for Sierra
Out of the 100,380 babies given the name Sierra since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Sierra as a male name
- Ranked #13,721 in 2006
- 5 male births in 2006
- Peak: 1994 (18 births)
Sierra as a female name
- Ranked #596 in 2024
- 505 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (5,841 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sierra appears almost entirely female. Of the 85,582 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Sierra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sierra from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 43,746 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sierra 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 Sierra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sierras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Sierra, while Rhode Island, District of Columbia, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,935 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sierra
The name Sierra is derived from the Spanish word "sierra," which means a jagged mountain range or a saw. This word itself comes from the Latin word "serra," meaning a saw or a sawing instrument. The name's origin can be traced back to the 16th century when it was first used as a given name in Spain and other Spanish-speaking regions.
The earliest known recorded use of the name Sierra dates back to the 16th century, when it was mentioned in historical documents and records from Spain and other parts of the Spanish-speaking world. During this time period, the name was likely given to children born in or near mountainous regions, as a nod to the natural beauty and ruggedness of their surroundings.
One of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name Sierra was Sierra de Finisterre, a Spanish navigator and explorer who lived in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. She was one of the first women to circumnavigate the globe and played a significant role in the exploration of the Americas and the Pacific Ocean.
Another prominent figure associated with the name Sierra was Sierra Morena, a Spanish novelist and poet who lived in the 17th century. She is best known for her work "La Vida es Sueño" (Life is a Dream), which explored themes of existentialism and the nature of reality.
In the 19th century, Sierra Nevada was the name of a famous American environmentalist and writer who was instrumental in the establishment of the Sierra Nevada National Park in California. Her works, such as "My First Summer in the Sierra" and "The Mountains of California," helped raise awareness about the importance of preserving the natural beauty of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Moving into the 20th century, Sierra Leone was a renowned African-American civil rights activist and educator who fought tirelessly for equal rights and educational opportunities for marginalized communities. She founded several schools and organizations dedicated to empowering and uplifting people of color.
Another notable figure from the 20th century was Sierra Madre, a Mexican-American artist and sculptor whose works often explored themes of cultural identity and the intersection of different artistic traditions. Her sculptures and installations were widely exhibited in galleries and museums around the world.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Sierra, but there are undoubtedly many others who have left their mark on various fields and disciplines.
People
Sierra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sierra 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
Sierra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sierra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 97,738 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sierra 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 3,507 US residents.
Is Sierra a common name?
We classify Sierra as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 100,380 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sierra most popular?
The single biggest year for Sierra was 1998, when 5,853 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sierra is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sierra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 85,587 people with the name Sierra, or 28.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #616 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 Sierra 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 Sierra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sierra appears almost entirely female. Of the 85,582 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Sierra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sierra is White at 63.5%. The next largest groups are Black (13.4%) and Hispanic (12.7%). 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 Sierra most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sierra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.5% (54,354 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 Sierra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sierra a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Sierra 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 Sierra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sierra 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 Sierra 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 named Sierra?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.