Sage

Used for both boys and girlsEnglish

Directly the English word for the herb, and by extension 'wise'.

Origin: English — From the herb name, ultimately from Latin 'salvia'.

Official popularity data is available for 4 regions, from 2001 to 2025. Highest recorded position: #298 in Northern Ireland in 2021. See regions.

Sage: Recorded every year since 2001, it reached #298 in 2021, and it stood at #608 in 2025.

4registrars recorded it
49times a registrar ranked it
25years from first to last
#298highest recorded position
10groupings it qualifies for

SAYJ/seɪdʒ/

Compare Sage Run Name Checker on Sage

Data Confidence

Evidence: ModerateCompleteness: CompleteEditorial review: 2026-06-15

Confidence in the evidencebehind this name's data — never a rating of the name itself, and never affected by how well it matches your preferences. How this is assessed

Because: backed by officially or academically authoritative sources, recently verified, popularity data covers multiple regions.

Source authority

Averaged from the real per-claim source-authority assessments already computed for this name's meaning/origin/pronunciation/popularity evidence.

Independent corroboration

Averaged from the real per-claim supporting-source counts already computed for this name's evidence.

See full evidence assessment (8 dimensions, 1 not yet tracked)

Source agreement

No recorded source disagreement for this name's meanings or origins.

Recency

Calculated from how long ago this record was last verified (2026-06-15), against a 270-day staleness threshold.

Geographic relevance

Calculated from the number of geographies with official popularity data (4) — broader official coverage means the evidence base is relevant to more of where the name is actually used.

Completeness

Calculated from how many of the expected data sections (variants, similar names, popularity, notable usage, IPA pronunciation) are actually populated for this name.

Direct observation vs. inference

Averaged from the real per-claim direct-observation-vs-inference ratios already computed for this name's evidence.

Identity & variant resolution quality

Cross-source identity and variant resolution requires HEKNO Knowledge, which isn't connected yet.

Name Characteristics

How these are calculated

Descriptive attributes of the name itself — not a confidence measurement, and not an overall quality score. Namewise doesn't approve or disapprove of names.

Pronunciation clarity

Editorial judgement of how consistently this name is pronounced correctly on first read, mapped from an easy/moderate/variable rating to a number. Describes the name — not a measure of evidence confidence.

Spelling simplicity

Calculated directly from the name's spelling: shorter names with fewer irregular letter clusters score higher. A disclosed formula, not an editorial opinion — and not a confidence measurement.

Recorded regional spread

Derived from how many geographies' official statistics record this name. It measures where the name is registered, not how well-known it feels to people living there.

International spread

Derived from the same official statistical coverage, scaled to reflect how widely the name crosses national datasets. Not a measure of how easily it is understood in another language.

Trend stability

Derived from the name's traditional/modern classification and its current popularity trend direction.

Overview

Origin: English
Meaning: Directly the English word for the herb, and by extension 'wise'.
Pronunciation: SAYJ
Syllables: 2
Common nicknames: None recorded
Classification: modern
Gender usage: Used for both boys and girls
Language family: English

Popularity

Region

Rising

among girls in England and Wales · 2001–2025

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
2001	#2783
2002	#2868
2004	#3197
2006	#2509
2008	#4524
2009	#5556
2010	#3156
2012	#2969
2013	#3160
2014	#4003
2015	#3615
2016	#2367
2017	#3229
2018	#2340
2019	#1782
2020	#1449
2021	#840
2022	#638
2023	#545
2024	#520
2025	#610

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

RisingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among girls in England and Wales in 21 of the 25 years from 2001 to 2025.

In 2025: #608 among girls in Republic of Ireland, #610 among girls in England and Wales.

Official data from 4 national registrars across 4 regions, 2001–2025 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded2001
First recorded at #2783 among girls in England and Wales in 2001 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Girls
Most recent2025
Most recently recorded at #610 among girls in England and Wales, in 2025.
England and Wales · Girls

Sage appears in 4 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Girls, which has ranked it in 21 years beginning in 2001, and has registered 440 births with the name.

Sage across 4 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Sage's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
England and Wales · Girls	#2783 (2001)	#520 (2024)	#610 (2025)	21 of 25	440 (2001–2025)	75 (2024)
England and Wales · Boys	#3225 (2002)	#898 (2024)	#934 (2025)	18 of 24	200 (2002–2025)	35 (2024)
Republic of Ireland · Girls	#689 (2005)	#441 (2024)	#608 (2025)	7 of 21	30 (2005–2025)	8 (2024)
Northern Ireland · Girls	#298 (2021)	#298 (2021)	#407 (2024)	2 of 4	8 (2021–2024)	5 (2021)

Sage by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Sage in England and Wales · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
2000s	30	6 of 10	5
2010s	78	9 of 10	9
2020sbusiest	332	6 of 10	55

Across England and Wales · Girls, the 2020s were its busiest decade — the 6 years of it this list covers, averaging 55 births a year.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Sage appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

What the record shows

Recorded by 4 registrars between 2001 and 2025, ranked in 25 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #298, first reached in 2021.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 75 births, registered in England and Wales in 2024.

1 registrar publishes it in more than one category list, holding a place in each for at least five years — an observation about those lists rather than about the name.

A second registrar first ranked it in 2005, and 23 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

Sage was ranked #298 in Northern Ireland · Girls in 2021. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Abby#298
Adeline#298
Aisling#298
Aiveen#298
Aida#350
Alara#350
Alaya#350
Alba#350

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Safwan · #432, 30y
Saga · #33, 28y
Sahaj · #2613, 12y
Sahal · #2357, 23y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 4 registrars, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Alayah · #298, 23y
Aylah · #298, 20y
Ivie · #298, 22y
Percy · #299, 27y

Also first recorded in the 2000s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 2000 and 2009.

Austeja · #298, 21y
Aylah · #298, 20y
Azlan · #298, 21y
Lile · #298, 18y

Sage and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,577 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Sage without appearing here.

Sage moved ahead of

Kirsten
In 2018 they stood at #2340 and #1977 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2019 that had become #1782 and #5591.
Belinda
In 2015 they stood at #3615 and #2945 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2016 that had become #2367 and #5785.
Kristine
In 2015 they stood at #3615 and #3252 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2016 that had become #2367 and #5785.
Finlay
In 2009 they stood at #5556 and #4564 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2010 that had become #3156 and #5707.

Moved ahead of Sage

Fiadh
In 2016 they stood at #2367 and #2757 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2017 that had become #3229 and #2502.
Harper
In 2005 they stood at #3197 and #3725 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2006 that had become #2509 and #2137.

Moved the opposite way to Sage

Abigail
Between 2001 and 2025 in England and Wales · Girls, Sage went from #2783 to #610 while Abigail went from #22 to #171.
Aimee
Between 2001 and 2025 in England and Wales · Girls, Sage went from #2783 to #610 while Aimee went from #72 to #1809.
Aisling
Between 2001 and 2025 in England and Wales · Girls, Sage went from #2783 to #610 while Aisling went from #514 to #1892.
Alex
Between 2001 and 2025 in England and Wales · Girls, Sage went from #2783 to #610 while Alex went from #172 to #2605.

Moved the same way as Sage

Ada
Between 2001 and 2025 in England and Wales · Girls, Sage went from #2783 to #610 and Ada from #1520 to #40.
Alma
Between 2001 and 2025 in England and Wales · Girls, Sage went from #2783 to #610 and Alma from #1728 to #211.
Amalie
Between 2001 and 2025 in England and Wales · Girls, Sage went from #2783 to #610 and Amalie from #3998 to #894.
Amelia
Between 2001 and 2025 in England and Wales · Girls, Sage went from #2783 to #610 and Amelia from #32 to #3.

Meaning & Origin

Directly the English word for the herb, and by extension 'wise'.

VerifiedSource: Namewise editorial team, Behind the Name.Confidence: medium.

English

From the herb name, ultimately from Latin 'salvia'.

VerifiedSource: Namewise editorial team, Behind the Name.Confidence: medium.

Other names with a researched meaning and origin →

Where Sage is officially recorded

4 official registrars have recorded Sage, between 2001 and 2025. Each registrar publishes for its own population on its own methodology, so the positions below are each one country's own ranking and are not comparable with one another.

Registrar	Recorded	Years	Its own highest position
England and Wales	2001–2025	24	#520 in 2024
Republic of Ireland	2005–2025	7	#441 in 2024
Northern Ireland	2021–2024	2	#298 in 2021
Scotland	2024	1	#790 in 2024

Variants

No spelling variants or nicknames recorded yet.

Similar Names

See full comparison →

Rowan0% similar

Both are short, nature-linked unisex names popular with modern parents.

Similarity is a demonstration score — see methodology.

Spelling

Spelling simplicity

Calculated directly from the name's spelling — see Name Characteristics above.

No commonly used alternate spellings recorded.

Pronunciation

SAYJ/seɪdʒ/

Syllables: 2
Ease: easy

Demonstration dataSource: Namewise editorial team.Confidence: low.

Where Sage Is Recorded

National statistical agencies have recorded Sage in these places. This shows where the name is used — not where it comes from, and not that it carries particular cultural significance there.

England and WalesNorthern IrelandScotlandRepublic of Ireland

Notable Usage

No safely-sourced notable usage recorded for this name yet.

Sibling & Surname Compatibility

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Sage

Sage at a glance

Overview

Popularity

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Sage across 4 official records

Sage by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Sage appears in

What the record shows

Names published alongside Sage

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 2000s

Sage and the names beside it

Sage moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Sage

Moved the opposite way to Sage

Moved the same way as Sage

Meaning & Origin

Where Sage is officially recorded

Variants

Similar Names

Spelling

Pronunciation

Where Sage Is Recorded

Notable Usage

Sibling & Surname Compatibility

Sage at a glance

Sage across 4 official records

Sage by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Sage appears in

What the record shows

Names published alongside Sage

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 2000s

Sage and the names beside it

Sage moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Sage

Moved the opposite way to Sage

Moved the same way as Sage