Saa last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Saa is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Saa.

Meaning of Saa

A surname believed to be of Arabic origin meaning 'wanderer' or 'traveler'.

Saa, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Saa surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Saa in America

Saa is the 46902nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Saa surname appeared 453 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Saa.

We can also compare 2010 data for Saa to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 46902 56526 -18.61%
Count 453 338 29.08%
Proportion per 100k 0.15 0.13 14.29%

The history of the last name Saa

The surname Saa is of North Germanic origin, originating in Scandinavia during the Viking Age between the late 8th and late 11th centuries. It is believed to have derived from the Old Norse word 'sa' which meant 'lake' or 'pond'. Over time, the name evolved from its original spelling of 'Sa' to the modern form 'Saa'.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Icelandic Landnámabók (Book of Settlements), a medieval manuscript detailing the settlement of Iceland by Norse explorers in the 9th and 10th centuries. The book mentions a certain Saa Thorgilsson, a prominent chieftain who established a homestead in the Westfjords region of Iceland around the year 920 AD.

In Norway, the name Saa can be traced back to the 11th century, appearing in the Gulating Law, one of the oldest surviving Norwegian provincial laws. The law code refers to a man named Saa Bjornsson, who was involved in a legal dispute over land ownership in the region of Hordaland.

During the Middle Ages, variations of the name Saa were found in various parts of Scandinavia, including Sweden and Denmark. It was sometimes associated with place names like Saaby or Saaland, indicating a connection to areas near lakes or ponds.

One notable figure in Scandinavian history with the surname Saa was Ingrid Saa, a Norwegian noblewoman who lived in the 14th century. She was the daughter of Erling Saa, a prominent landowner and chieftain from the Trøndelag region of Norway.

Another individual of historical significance was Hans Saa, a Danish merchant and explorer who was born in Copenhagen in 1548. He is credited with being one of the first Europeans to establish trade relations with the Burmese kingdom of Pegu (modern-day Myanmar) in the late 16th century.

The name Saa also appeared in Iceland during the Sturlung Era (1220-1264), a period marked by civil conflict and power struggles between various chieftains. One such chieftain was Saa Sveinsson, who played a significant role in the political turmoil of the time.

In Sweden, a notable bearer of the name Saa was Olof Saa, a military officer who fought in the Swedish-Danish War of 1657-1658. He was born in 1620 in the province of Östergötland and rose through the ranks to become a respected commander.

While the surname Saa may not be as common today as it once was in Scandinavia, it remains a part of the region's rich cultural heritage, reflecting its ancient Norse roots and the historical significance of those who bore this name throughout the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Saa

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Saa.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Saa was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 22.08% 100
Non-Hispanic Black Only 4.86% 22
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 5.08% 23
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.10% 5
Hispanic Origin 66.89% 303

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Saa has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 22.08% 25.44% -14.14%
Black 4.86% 8.28% -52.05%
Asian and Pacific Islander 5.08% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 1.10% 4.14% -116.03%
Hispanic 66.89% 57.40% 15.27%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Saa was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Saa, please contact us.

Reference this page

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"Saa last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/saa-surname-popularity/.

"Saa last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/saa-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 December, 2024

Saa last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/saa-surname-popularity/.

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