NameRealm
Sahara

Sahara: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“desert”
Origin
Arabic
Say it
suh-HAIR-uh · 3 syllables
Used for
Girls

From Arabic ṣaḥrāʾ, meaning 'desert,' best known from the Sahara Desert in North Africa. As a given name, it is taken from the geographic term.

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How popular is Sahara?

202438.0 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Sahara in 2024126

2024 rank#1,637 girls

Peak year2006

Total US babies since 18804,634

Sahara has been fairly stable over the last fifteen years.

Names like Sahara

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Laylanight · Arabic
  • Lylanight · Arabic
  • Aaliyahexalted, rising · Arabic
  • Amiraprincess; commander · Arabic
  • Lilahnight · Arabic
  • Lilanight · Arabic
  • Nylaattainer; successful · Arabic
  • Zarablooming flower · Arabic

Sahara questions

What does the name Sahara mean?

Sahara means "desert". It comes from Arabic. From Arabic ṣaḥrāʾ, meaning 'desert,' best known from the Sahara Desert in North Africa. As a given name, it is taken from the geographic term.

Is Sahara a boy or girl name?

Sahara is mainly a girl's name in US records (100% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Sahara?

126 US babies were named Sahara in 2024. Its peak year was 2006.

How do you pronounce Sahara?

Sahara is usually pronounced suh-HAIR-uh.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.