Sapphire

femaleStatistical record

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

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

Sapphire: Recorded every year since 1996, it reached #263 in 2017, and it stood at #533 in 2024.

3registrars recorded it
32times a registrar ranked it
29years from first to last
#263highest recorded position
7groupings it qualifies for

Region

Falling

among girls in England and Wales · 1996–2024

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
1996	#479
1997	#489
1998	#452
1999	#453
2000	#506
2001	#460
2002	#476
2003	#494
2004	#488
2005	#499
2006	#431
2007	#465
2008	#510
2009	#421
2010	#431
2011	#338
2012	#362
2013	#317
2014	#326
2015	#345
2016	#366
2017	#350
2018	#361
2019	#349
2020	#393
2021	#483
2022	#541
2023	#477
2024	#533

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

FallingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among girls in England and Wales in every year from 1996 to 2024.

In 2024: #533 among girls in England and Wales, #638 among girls in Scotland.

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

Popularity journey

First recorded1996
First recorded at #479 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
Highest recorded2017–2023
Highest recorded position: #263 among girls in Northern Ireland, in 2017 (recorded 2017–2023).
Northern Ireland · Girls
Most recent2024
Most recently recorded at #533 among girls in England and Wales, in 2024.
England and Wales · Girls

Sapphire 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 2,732 births with the name.

Sapphire 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.

Sapphire'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	#479 (1996)	#317 (2013)	#533 (2024)	29 of 29	2,732 (1996–2024)	148 (2013)
Northern Ireland · Girls	#263 (2017)	#263 (2017)	#328 (2023)	2 of 7	10 (2017–2023)	6 (2017)

Sapphire 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 Sapphire in England and Wales · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	246	4 of 10	62
2000s	747	10 of 10	75
2010sbusiest	1,314	10 of 10	131
2020s	425	5 of 10	85

Across England and Wales · Girls, the 2010s were its busiest decade, averaging 131 births a year.

Its sharpest single-year move came between 2010 and 2011, when recorded births rose by 44, from 98 to 142.

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

Sapphire 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: #263 in Northern Ireland in 2017.

Sapphire'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	#533	73	High	Verified
2023	England and Wales	female	#477	83	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	female	#541	72	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	female	#483	87	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	female	#393	110	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	female	#349	126	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	female	#361	128	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	female	#350	134	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	female	#366	127	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	female	#345	137	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	female	#326	141	High	Verified
2013	England and Wales	female	#317	148	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	female	#362	133	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	female	#338	142	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	female	#431	98	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	female	#421	99	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	female	#510	76	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	female	#465	86	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	female	#431	95	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	female	#499	70	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	female	#488	69	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	female	#494	65	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	female	#476	64	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	female	#460	66	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	female	#506	57	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	female	#453	65	High	Verified
1998	England and Wales	female	#452	66	High	Verified
1997	England and Wales	female	#489	57	High	Verified
1996	England and Wales	female	#479	58	High	Verified
2023	Northern Ireland	female	#328	4	High	Verified
2017	Northern Ireland	female	#263	6	High	Verified
2024	Scotland	female	#638	4	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
Northern Ireland hub — collected by NISRA
Scotland hub — collected by National Records of Scotland

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 #263, first reached in 2017.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 148 births, registered in England and Wales in 2013.

A second registrar first ranked it in 2017, and 28 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.

Saphire · #1472, 26y
Sapphira · #2112, 25y
Sapphire-Rose · #2458, 14y
Saqib · #481, 27y

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.

Cassius · #263, 29y
Keziah · #263, 30y
Olivia-Rose · #263, 25y
Isobelle · #265, 30y

Also first recorded in the 1990s

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

Aminah · #263, 30y
Cassius · #263, 29y
Coran · #263, 20y
Keziah · #263, 30y

Sapphire was ranked #263 in Northern Ireland · Girls in 2017. 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.

Sapphire 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 Sapphire without appearing here.

Sapphire moved ahead of

Brittany Compare
In 2000 they stood at #506 and #275 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2001 that had become #460 and #871.
Kerry Compare
In 2005 they stood at #499 and #494 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2006 that had become #431 and #796.
Kylie Compare
In 2003 they stood at #494 and #482 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2004 that had become #488 and #840.
Melanie Compare
In 2008 they stood at #510 and #464 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2009 that had become #421 and #701.

Moved ahead of Sapphire

Violet Compare
In 2004 they stood at #488 and #607 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2005 that had become #499 and #273.
Maja Compare
In 2006 they stood at #431 and #456 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2007 that had become #465 and #282.
Lena Compare
In 2007 they stood at #465 and #544 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2008 that had become #510 and #341.
Alyssa Compare
In 1999 they stood at #453 and #483 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2000 that had become #506 and #344.

Moved the opposite way to Sapphire

Fiadh Compare
Between 2013 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Sapphire went from #317 to #533 while Fiadh went from #5742 to #374.
Noah Compare
Between 2013 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Sapphire went from #317 to #533 while Noah went from #5742 to #1743.
Arlo Compare
Between 2015 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Sapphire went from #345 to #533 while Arlo went from #5730 to #1894.

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: #263 in Northern Ireland in 2017. Source data last verified 2026-07-21.

Sapphire

Sapphire at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Sapphire across 2 official records

Sapphire by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Sapphire 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 Sapphire

Sapphire and the names beside it

Sapphire moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Sapphire

Moved the opposite way to Sapphire

Sapphire at a glance

Sapphire across 2 official records

Sapphire by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Sapphire 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 Sapphire

Sapphire and the names beside it

Sapphire moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Sapphire

Moved the opposite way to Sapphire