Safiya

femaleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Safiya: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Safiya: Recorded every year since 1996, it reached #383 in 2012, and it stood at #481 in 2024.

3registrars recorded it
34times a registrar ranked it
29years from first to last
#383highest recorded position
9groupings it qualifies for

Region

Rising

among girls in England and Wales · 1996–2024

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
1996	#974
1997	#983
1998	#801
1999	#678
2000	#615
2001	#642
2002	#679
2003	#595
2004	#565
2005	#553
2006	#475
2007	#515
2008	#500
2009	#444
2010	#471
2011	#444
2012	#480
2013	#519
2014	#527
2015	#564
2016	#585
2017	#526
2018	#503
2019	#651
2020	#578
2021	#640
2022	#534
2023	#461
2024	#481

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 every year from 1996 to 2024.

In 2024: #481 among girls in England and Wales, #736 among girls in Republic of Ireland.

Official data from 3 national registrars across 3 regions, 1996–2024 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1996
First recorded at #974 among girls in England and Wales in 1996 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Girls
Most recent2024
Most recently recorded at #481 among girls in England and Wales, in 2024.
England and Wales · Girls

Safiya appears in 2 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Girls, which has ranked it in 29 years beginning in 1996, and has registered 1,896 births with the name.

Safiya across 2 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.

Safiya'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	#974 (1996)	#444 (2009)	#481 (2024)	29 of 29	1,896 (1996–2024)	96 (2011)
Republic of Ireland · Girls	#752 (2014)	#736 (2024)	#736 (2024)	4 of 11	15 (2014–2024)	4 (2014)

Safiya 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 Safiya in England and Wales · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	105	4 of 10	26
2000s	609	10 of 10	61
2010sbusiest	811	10 of 10	81
2020s	371	5 of 10	74

Across England and Wales · Girls, the 2010s were its busiest decade, averaging 81 births a year.

Its sharpest single-year move came between 2018 and 2019, when recorded births fell by 25, from 85 to 60.

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

Safiya appears in

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

Popularity data

Official popularity data is available for 3 regions, from 1996 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #383 in Northern Ireland in 2012.

Safiya's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2024	England and Wales	female	#481	84	High	Verified
2023	England and Wales	female	#461	86	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	female	#534	73	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	female	#640	60	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	female	#578	68	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	female	#651	60	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	female	#503	85	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	female	#526	82	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	female	#585	72	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	female	#564	77	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	female	#527	80	High	Verified
2013	England and Wales	female	#519	80	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	female	#480	92	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	female	#444	96	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	female	#471	87	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	female	#444	94	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	female	#500	77	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	female	#515	72	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	female	#475	81	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	female	#553	60	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	female	#565	55	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	female	#595	49	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	female	#679	39	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	female	#642	40	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	female	#615	42	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	female	#678	35	High	Verified
1998	England and Wales	female	#801	28	High	Verified
1997	England and Wales	female	#983	21	High	Verified
1996	England and Wales	female	#974	21	High	Verified
2012	Northern Ireland	female	#383	4	High	Verified
2024	Republic of Ireland	female	#736	4	High	Verified
2022	Republic of Ireland	female	#747	4	High	Verified
2018	Republic of Ireland	female	#896	3	High	Verified
2014	Republic of Ireland	female	#752	4	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
Northern Ireland hub — collected by NISRA
Republic of Ireland hub — collected by CSO Ireland

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 3 registrars between 1996 and 2024, ranked in 29 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #383, first reached in 2012.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 96 births, registered in England and Wales in 2011.

A second registrar first ranked it in 2012, and 18 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.

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.

Safina · #1126, 29y
Safira · #2674, 18y
Safiyah · #739, 29y
Safiyya · #982, 29y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 3 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.

Kaiya · #383, 28y
Mahnoor · #383, 30y
Ashlyn · #384, 29y
Rea · #384, 28y

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1990 and 1999.

Henna · #383, 27y
Kaiya · #383, 28y
Mahnoor · #383, 30y
Ashlyn · #384, 29y

Safiya was ranked #383 in Northern Ireland · Girls in 2012. 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.

Safiya 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 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Safiya without appearing here.

Safiya moved ahead of

Carol Compare
In 1997 they stood at #983 and #897 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1998 that had become #801 and #1480.
Tracy Compare
In 1997 they stood at #983 and #820 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1998 that had become #801 and #1392.
Denise Compare
In 1998 they stood at #801 and #664 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1999 that had become #678 and #1216.
Tracey Compare
In 1996 they stood at #974 and #783 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1997 that had become #983 and #1450.

Moved ahead of Safiya

Violet Compare
In 2004 they stood at #565 and #607 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2005 that had become #553 and #273.
Harper Compare
In 2011 they stood at #444 and #858 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2012 that had become #480 and #284.
Aria Compare
In 2011 they stood at #444 and #615 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2012 that had become #480 and #294.
Mila Compare
In 2010 they stood at #471 and #616 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2011 that had become #444 and #261.

Moved the opposite way to Safiya

Abigail Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Safiya went from #974 to #481 while Abigail went from #21 to #154.
Aimee Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Safiya went from #974 to #481 while Aimee went from #70 to #1603.
Aisling Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Safiya went from #974 to #481 while Aisling went from #440 to #2000.
Alex Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Safiya went from #974 to #481 while Alex went from #161 to #2253.

Moved the same way as Safiya

Ada Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Safiya went from #974 to #481 and Ada from #2683 to #40.
Alma Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Safiya went from #974 to #481 and Alma from #2096 to #234.
Alyssa Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Safiya went from #974 to #481 and Alyssa from #783 to #285.
Amalie Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Safiya went from #974 to #481 and Amalie from #2096 to #1128.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Official popularity data is available for 3 regions, from 1996 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #383 in Northern Ireland in 2012. Source data last verified 2026-07-21.

Safiya

Safiya at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Safiya across 2 official records

Safiya by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Safiya appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Safiya

Safiya and the names beside it

Safiya moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Safiya

Moved the opposite way to Safiya

Moved the same way as Safiya

Safiya at a glance

Safiya across 2 official records

Safiya by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Safiya appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Safiya

Safiya and the names beside it

Safiya moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Safiya

Moved the opposite way to Safiya

Moved the same way as Safiya