Humanverse

Sarah vs Saribel

American parents have registered 1,101,838 Sarahs since 1880, against 22 Saribels. Sarah is still ahead, with 2,710 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Sarah against Saribel, 1880 to 2025 0 8k 16k 24k 32k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Sarah Saribel

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Sarah has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2003, when Sarah had 13,811 and Saribel had 22.

Side by side

  Sarah Saribel
Total US births 1,101,83822
Most in one year 28,60822
Babies in 2025 2,710under 5
Estimated living today 889,00020
Median age today 3722
Peak year 19822003
Best rank 4th girls5,419th girls
Rank in 2025 90thunranked
First recorded 18802003
Girls / boys 1,098,498 / 3,34022 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Sarahs alive today are over 37; half the Saribels are over 22. That is 15 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Sarah and Saribel.