A LITTLE UNCOMMON. ENTIRELY YOURS.
Meaning, origin and pronunciation, with published usage by place and year.
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Radiance or brilliant light, in the Arabic name tradition.
The dictionary distinguishes Sana from the separate Sanaa entry, whose interpretation differs. This Arabic account does not adjudicate Japanese, South Asian or other same-spelling traditions. It is not a personal-trait judgment.
Arabic, in the directly documented name tradition.
The exact Sana entry identifies this Arabic naming route. Other naming routes and marked spellings remain separate; no automatic Arabic or English pronunciation is inferred.
/ˈsɑnə/
Recorded US English dictionary reading(s) of this exact spelling. The separate English given-name entry confirms name use; CMUdict does not identify a bearer or name tradition. Native and preferred readings may differ. Original ARPABET: S AA1 N AH0.
Recorded English reading, as published. Accents and preferred pronunciations can differ.
Counts apply only to the exact spelling, place, year and recorded usage shown. Places are separate; these figures are never added into a worldwide total. Missing or suppressed records never mean zero.
| Place | Year | Recorded usage | Published births | Rank | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 2025 | Girls | 49 · preliminary | 611 | 2025 figures are preliminary. Quebec counts below five are randomly imputed by the publisher before national aggregation. Accents are removed in the source; this profile was matched only where the catalog spelling was unambiguous. Unpublished values are unknown, not zero. Rank basis: source published. |
| France | 2025 | Girls | 205 (rounded to 5) | 264 | Counts are rounded to the nearest multiple of five. Ranks use unrounded publisher counts with randomly ordered ties; equally rounded counts can have different ranks. National coverage excludes Mayotte before 2012. Missing years are unavailable, not zero. Automated direction labels are withheld for this rounded-count series. Rank basis: source published. |
| France | 2025 | Boys | 5 (rounded to 5) | 5889 | Counts are rounded to the nearest multiple of five. Ranks use unrounded publisher counts with randomly ordered ties; equally rounded counts can have different ranks. National coverage excludes Mayotte before 2012. Missing years are unavailable, not zero. Automated direction labels are withheld for this rounded-count series. Rank basis: source published. |
| England & Wales | 2025 | Girls | 70 | 568 | Published ranks differ from ranks calculated over visible rows. Counts retained; automated trend labels withheld. Rank basis: source published. |
| England & Wales | 2004 | Boys | 3 | 3651 | Historical source: not all years independently cross-checked. Rank basis: source published. |
| Scotland | 2024 | Girls | 4 | 638 | Source-reported counts; unpublished names are not zero. Rank basis: source published. |
| Ireland | 2025 | Girls | 6 | 544 | Names below three occurrences are unpublished. Accent recording changed in 2018; comparisons across that boundary may not describe the same spelling coverage. Counts refer to registrations in the year. Missing years are unavailable, not zero. Rank basis: source published. |
| United States | 2025 | Girls | 151 | 1427 | Source-reported counts; unpublished names are not zero. Rank basis: calculated from published counts. |
| United States | 1985 | Boys | 5 | 6523 | Source-reported counts; unpublished names are not zero. Rank basis: calculated from published counts. |
Canada, Ireland and France coverage includes confidently matched existing profiles only; unmatched spellings are awaiting review. French counts are rounded to five.
Open an entry for its source, credit, licence and full qualifications. Different name traditions remain separate.
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The exact English section documents a feminine given name while explicitly leaving etymology incomplete. Usage evidence does not settle Arabic, Japanese or other proposed linguistic routes, and does not assign an English pronunciation. Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted and condensed by Rare Baby Names.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
The dictionary distinguishes Sana from the separate Sanaa entry, whose interpretation differs. This Arabic account does not adjudicate Japanese, South Asian or other same-spelling traditions. It is not a personal-trait judgment. Credit: Eva Brylla and Katharina Leibring, Förnamn i Sverige – kortfattat namnlexikon, second edition (Institutet för språk och folkminnen, 2026), printed page 347. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; copyright remains with Charlotta Seiler Brylla, Katharina Leibring and Isof. No source prose, image or audio reproduced.
Original factual summary; source rights retained
Checked against cited source
The name-bank page records Sana in Dutch data and explicitly mentions bearers born in Morocco, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tunisia. Country of birth does not determine a name’s language or etymology; no single origin or literal meaning is assigned. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; credit: KNAW / Meertens Instituut, Nederlandse Voornamenbank. No passage, image or recording reproduced.
Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; cited KNAW / Meertens Instituut Nederlandse Voornamenbank; no open-data licence asserted for the source website.
Checked against cited source
The exact Sana entry identifies this Arabic naming route. Other naming routes and marked spellings remain separate; no automatic Arabic or English pronunciation is inferred. Credit: Eva Brylla and Katharina Leibring, Förnamn i Sverige – kortfattat namnlexikon, second edition (Institutet för språk och folkminnen, 2026), printed page 347. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; copyright remains with Charlotta Seiler Brylla, Katharina Leibring and Isof. No source prose, image or audio reproduced.
Original factual summary; source rights retained
Checked against cited source
Recorded US English dictionary reading(s) of this exact spelling. The separate English given-name entry confirms name use; CMUdict does not identify a bearer or name tradition. Native and preferred readings may differ. Original ARPABET: S AA1 N AH0. Credit: Carnegie Mellon University, CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; Wiktionary contributors for name identity only. Pronunciation source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/cmudict.dict. License: CMUdict BSD-style license (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/LICENSE). Name-identity source: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Sana&oldid=92457084 under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Adaptation: Rare Baby Names converted the recorded phone sequences to broad IPA and counted vowel phonemes. No source audio reused.
Credit: Carnegie Mellon University and CMUdict contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: selected exact-spelling dictionary readings converted from ARPABET to broad IPA, with qualified syllable counts. CMUdict does not identify a bearer’s preferred pronunciation or name tradition.
Copyright (C) 1993-2015 Carnegie Mellon University. All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. The contents of this file are deemed to be source code. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. This work was supported in part by funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation of the United States of America, and by member companies of the Carnegie Mellon Sphinx Speech Consortium. We acknowledge the contributions of many volunteers to the expansion and improvement of this dictionary. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY NOR ITS EMPLOYEES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
CMUdict BSD-style license
Checked against cited source
A directly reviewed exact-name entry supports the route-qualified explanation. The book’s statistical intervals refer to Swedish call-name bearers at the end of 2021, not annual births; none are imported as popularity counts. The book does not provide a verified English pronunciation for this profile. Credit: Eva Brylla and Katharina Leibring, Förnamn i Sverige – kortfattat namnlexikon, second edition (Institutet för språk och folkminnen, 2026), printed page 347. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; copyright remains with Charlotta Seiler Brylla, Katharina Leibring and Isof. No source prose, image or audio reproduced.
Original factual summary; source rights retained
Checked against cited source
Recorded US English dictionary reading(s) of this exact spelling. The separate English given-name entry confirms name use; CMUdict does not identify a bearer or name tradition. Native and preferred readings may differ. Original ARPABET: S AA1 N AH0. Credit: Carnegie Mellon University, CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; Wiktionary contributors for name identity only. Pronunciation source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/cmudict.dict. License: CMUdict BSD-style license (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cmusphinx/cmudict/74790861f652b15e4ac49015a90074ad62a27690/LICENSE). Name-identity source: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Sana&oldid=92457084 under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Adaptation: Rare Baby Names converted the recorded phone sequences to broad IPA and counted vowel phonemes. No source audio reused.
Credit: Carnegie Mellon University and CMUdict contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: selected exact-spelling dictionary readings converted from ARPABET to broad IPA, with qualified syllable counts. CMUdict does not identify a bearer’s preferred pronunciation or name tradition.
Copyright (C) 1993-2015 Carnegie Mellon University. All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. The contents of this file are deemed to be source code. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. This work was supported in part by funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation of the United States of America, and by member companies of the Carnegie Mellon Sphinx Speech Consortium. We acknowledge the contributions of many volunteers to the expansion and improvement of this dictionary. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY NOR ITS EMPLOYEES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
CMUdict BSD-style license
Checked against cited source
The academic first-name bank lists this marked spelling with Sana. Accents and diacritics are preserved; neither pronunciation nor popularity statistics are transferred between spellings. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; credit: KNAW / Meertens Instituut, Nederlandse Voornamenbank. No passage, image or recording reproduced.
Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; cited KNAW / Meertens Instituut Nederlandse Voornamenbank; no open-data licence asserted for the source website.
Checked against cited source
The academic first-name bank lists this marked spelling with Sana. Accents and diacritics are preserved; neither pronunciation nor popularity statistics are transferred between spellings. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; credit: KNAW / Meertens Instituut, Nederlandse Voornamenbank. No passage, image or recording reproduced.
Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; cited KNAW / Meertens Instituut Nederlandse Voornamenbank; no open-data licence asserted for the source website.
Checked against cited source
The academic first-name bank lists this marked spelling with Sana. Accents and diacritics are preserved; neither pronunciation nor popularity statistics are transferred between spellings. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; credit: KNAW / Meertens Instituut, Nederlandse Voornamenbank. No passage, image or recording reproduced.
Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; cited KNAW / Meertens Instituut Nederlandse Voornamenbank; no open-data licence asserted for the source website.
Checked against cited source
The academic first-name bank lists this marked spelling with Sana. Accents and diacritics are preserved; neither pronunciation nor popularity statistics are transferred between spellings. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; credit: KNAW / Meertens Instituut, Nederlandse Voornamenbank. No passage, image or recording reproduced.
Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; cited KNAW / Meertens Instituut Nederlandse Voornamenbank; no open-data licence asserted for the source website.
Checked against cited source
The academic first-name bank lists this marked spelling with Sana. Accents and diacritics are preserved; neither pronunciation nor popularity statistics are transferred between spellings. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; credit: KNAW / Meertens Instituut, Nederlandse Voornamenbank. No passage, image or recording reproduced.
Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; cited KNAW / Meertens Instituut Nederlandse Voornamenbank; no open-data licence asserted for the source website.
Checked against cited source
The academic first-name bank lists this marked spelling with Sana. Accents and diacritics are preserved; neither pronunciation nor popularity statistics are transferred between spellings. Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; credit: KNAW / Meertens Instituut, Nederlandse Voornamenbank. No passage, image or recording reproduced.
Original factual summary by Rare Baby Names; cited KNAW / Meertens Instituut Nederlandse Voornamenbank; no open-data licence asserted for the source website.
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Attribution: (C) Crown copyright. Data supplied by National Records of Scotland.
License: Open Government Licence v3.0
Attribution: Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence
License: Open Government Licence v3.0
Attribution: Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence
License: Open Government Licence v3.0
Attribution: U.S. Social Security Administration
Credit: Statistics Canada, Table 17-10-0147-01, 1991–2025, released 23 September 2026.
License: Statistics Canada Open Licence
Adaptation: Adapted from Statistics Canada, First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators, Table 17-10-0147-01, reference years 1991–2025. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Credit: Central Statistics Office, Ireland, VSA50 and VSA60, updated 27 February 2026.
License: CC BY 4.0
Adaptation: Adapted by Rare Baby Names: joined the published count and rank indicators and matched unambiguous existing spellings. Source values retained.
Credit: Source : Insee, Fichier des prénoms, updated 16 July 2026.
License: Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab)
Adaptation: Adapted by Rare Baby Names: column names and sex codes mapped and unique case-only spellings matched to existing profiles. Published rounded counts and ranks retained.
