Sara

SAR·ə, IPA /ˈsɛɹ.ə/ (American English) · 2 syllables

Sara is comfortably familiar.

86/100

Strong Practical Fit

Balanced across pronunciation, everyday use, lifetime fit and international use.

Name Profile

Pronunciation & Spelling
Mostly read correctly
86/100
Everyday Use
Low risk
Shortens naturally in everyday use, to one established short form.
95/100
Growing Up
Strong lifetime fit
Short enough to work in every register without a nickname.
86/100
International Use
Broad international fit
Works cleanly across the assessed languages and writing systems.
85/100

NAME DETAILS

COMMON FORMS: Sadie
CLOSE SPELLINGS: Sarra
OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS: Sarah; Sarai; Zara

POPULARITY

Sara over time

United States

#198RANK

Rank #198 gives national context, not a classroom forecast.

Recognizable without feeling automatic. Ranked #198 in the U.S., 2025.

SourceU.S. Social Security Administration · 2025 release

Pronunciation & Forms

SAY IT

SAR·ə, IPA /ˈsɛɹ.ə/ (American English)

STRESS ON THE FIRST SYLLABLE

COMMON FORMS

Sadie

CLOSE SPELLINGS

Sarra

OTHER-LANGUAGE FORMS

Sarah
Sarai
Zara

PRACTICAL LIFE

How This Name Lives

AT SCHOOL & DAY TO DAY

Well-established and internationally familiar for a girl; functions comfortably in childhood across many cultures given its extremely wide cross-linguistic usage.

INTO ADULTHOOD

A short, classic biblical-family name that reads as fully professional and formal for an adult across many countries and languages.

Cultural Footprint

A Hebrew biblical name (matriarch of the Jewish people in Genesis) that spread through Christian, and later broader secular, naming traditions across an unusually wide range of languages and regions, with 'Sara' functioning as the standard spelling variant used outside the English-speaking Sarah convention.

Community Impressions

Reads as classic, warm, and internationally familiar — a direct spelling variant of the biblical matriarch's name Sarah, carrying the same 'lady/princess/noblewoman' meaning across dozens of languages.

How this name is commonly received · not used in the score

More about Sara

FORMALITY

Functions as a complete formal given name in most cultures; English usage sometimes draws on the broader Sarah-family diminutive 'Sadie' informally.

Names around it

Sarah Sarai Sadie Zara

EDITORIAL SYNTHESIS

The Decision

Sara is spelled without unusual letter patterns, and it holds up in everyday use. Surname-dependent compatibility remains unassessed until a surname is added.

STRENGTH

English speakers will most likely pronounce it correctly on the first try. Short enough to work in every register without a nickname.

BEST FIT

Everyday Use is the strongest-scoring part of this name — no obvious nickname traps, rhymes, or initial issues detected.

FULL-NAME CHECK