Sarabi
- Gender
- Girl
- Say it
- sah-RAH-bee
- Origin
- Swahili
- US rank, 2025
- #6,837 for girls
Sarabi is a girls' name of Swahili origin, meaning “mirage”. In 2025 it ranked 6,837th for girls in the US (16 babies).
What does Sarabi mean?
Swahili: Swahili sarabi
“mirage”
Sarabi is Simba's mother in Disney's The Lion King (1994), whose names are drawn from Swahili.
Is Sarabi a girl's or a boy's name?
Sarabi is a girls' name. In 2025, it was given to 16 girls in the US. Too few boys were given it to be listed.
How popular is Sarabi in the US?
- Rank in 2025
- 6,837th among girls
- Babies in 2025
- 16 about 1 in 100,000 girls
- Five-year trend
- Falling down 25% in five years
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 girls
In 2025, 16 girls in the US were named Sarabi, making it the 6,837th most popular name for girls. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 5,483rd. Its busiest year was 2022, with 27 girls. It first appears in the records in 1995.
Half of all the girls named Sarabi in the US since 1880 were born between 2012 and 2021, the years shaded on the chart below.
Sarabi in the US, year by year
| Year | Girls | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 16 | #6,837 |
| 2024 | 9 | #10,266 |
| 2023 | 17 | #6,675 |
| 2022 | 27 | #4,904 |
| 2021 | 15 | #7,245 |
| 2020 | 22 | #5,483 |
| 2019 | 17 | #6,694 |
| 2018 | 17 | #6,788 |
| 2017 | 16 | #7,088 |
| 2016 | 17 | #6,898 |
| 2015 | 12 | #8,926 |
| 2014 | 9 | #10,949 |
| 2013 | 11 | #9,607 |
| 2012 | 12 | #9,105 |
| 2011 | 5 | #16,756 |
| 2010 | 0 | – |
| 2009 | 0 | – |
| 2008 | 5 | #17,498 |
| 2007 | 0 | – |
| 2006 | 0 | – |
| 2005 | 0 | – |
| 2004 | 7 | #12,754 |
| 2003 | 0 | – |
| 2002 | 0 | – |
| 2001 | 5 | #15,345 |
| 2000 | 5 | #15,024 |
| 1999 | 0 | – |
| 1998 | 8 | #10,116 |
| 1997 | 5 | #13,719 |
| 1996 | 9 | #8,807 |
| 1995 | 12 | #7,036 |
Names like Sarabi
Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.
Sariyah, Salem, Zaniyah, Aaliyah, Safa, Samadhi, Hadassah, Kaliyah, Safiya, Zaliyah, Samiyah, Jaliyah
More Swahili names
Zuri, Imani, Malaika, Emani, Jabari, Zhuri, Imara, Maisha, Asante, Imaani, Malaikah, Taraji, Xuri, Zuriyah, Johari, Simba
Sources
Figures from Popular Baby Names (US Social Security Administration). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.
To cite this page: Nameling, “Sarabi: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/sarabi, updated 20 October 2026.