Given name & surname · also Late Greek
Sava
“grandfather, old man”
Sava is a masculine given name from Ancient Greek, ultimately from Aramaic. It is used in English, Romanian, and Serbo-Croatian.
Original Ancient GreekΣάββας
Meaning & origin
What it means
Sava goes back to Aramaic סבא, meaning “grandfather, old man.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Hebrew.
How it developed
In English usage, Sava developed from Σάββας.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 2000. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Sava through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 222
- 212 boys · 10 girls
- Most popular year
- 2013
- 18 babies
- 2025
- 8
- #9,566 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +55%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 8 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 9,566 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 42.9% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 549 as a first name in 2020; 737 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Sava’s family of names
In English usage, Sava developed from the Ancient Greek form Σάββας.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 9
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Σάββαςroot · Ancient Greek
- Sabaequivalent
- Savvaequivalent
- Савинequivalent
- Savynequivalent
- Савкоequivalent
- Савваequivalent
- Sábaequivalent
Show 1 moreShow fewer
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Sava
- Sabbas the Goth4th-century Gothic Christian martyr and locally venerated saint from what is now Romania334–372
- Sava IIArchbishop of Serbs1200–1271
- Sava GrujićSerbian general, politician, military strategist and Prime Minister (1840-1913)
- Sava PetrovićMetropolitan of Cetinje1700–1781
- Sava KovačevićYugoslav Partisan commander (1905–1943)
- Sava VladislavichRussian diplomat (1669–1738)
- Sava ŠumanovićSerbian painter (1896-1942)
- Sava AntićSerbian footballer (1930–1998)
- Sava-Arangel ČestićSerbian footballerborn 2001
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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