girl's name
Sarai
sah-RYE
- Origin Hebrew
- Gender Girl
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 23,622
the United States
#424
2025 births
Sarai is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, the name Abraham's wife carried before God renamed her Sarah. The traditional gloss "my princess" is now generally rejected — the ending is not a possessive, and the older form probably meant the same as Sarah.
- Sarai is a name of Hebrew origin.
- Peaked in 2007, when 818 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 4,523 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1953.
Sarai over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1950s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1950s | 19 |
| 1960s | 115 |
| 1970s | 362 |
| 1980s | 1,199 |
| 1990s | 3,249 |
| 2000s | 6,516 |
| 2010s | 7,209 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 4,256 |
What Sarai means
Sarai most likely means princess or noblewoman, the same as Sarah, in an older dialectal form. The my princess reading treats the final I as a possessive suffix, which Hebrew scholarship no longer accepts.
Where Sarai comes from
Sarai appears in Genesis as the name of Abraham's wife until God renames her Sarah at the covenant, alongside Abram becoming Abraham — a paired renaming that marks the promise. The traditional explanation, that Sarai means my princess and Sarah means princess of all, rests on reading the final I as the Hebrew first-person possessive; modern scholarship generally treats Sarai instead as an archaic or dialectal form of the same word, with no change in meaning. The narrative change is about covenant rather than semantics. Spanish-speaking families have used Sarai widely, and it appears in our records from 1953.
Sarai in use
Sarai charts in only four of the seven countries we track and peaked in 2007.
How popular is Sarai?
In 2025, Sarai was given to 733 babies in the United States, ranking #424 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Sarai is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Sarai is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Saraï | Saraï is a rare spelling of Sarai, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 45 times, mostly in France. | 45 |
Names that peaked alongside Sarai
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Sarai also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Sarai over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Sarai
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Sarai in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Sarai
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Sarai — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Sarai
What does the name Sarai mean?
Most likely princess, the same as Sarah, in an older form. The my princess reading is now generally rejected.
Why was Sarai renamed Sarah?
At the covenant in Genesis, alongside Abram becoming Abraham. The change marks the promise rather than a change of meaning.
How do you pronounce Sarai?
sah-RYE, with the stress on the second syllable.
How popular is the name Sarai?
In 2025, Sarai was given to 733 babies in the United States, ranking #424 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Sarai a girl's or a boy's name?
Sarai is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
When was Sarai most popular?
Sarai peaked in 2007, when 818 babies were given the name. Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Sarai?
Sarai is usually shortened to Sara and Rai.
Is Sarai a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Sarai currently ranks #424 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.