Given name & surname
Sheba
“an oath; a biblical place”
Sheba is used as a given name and a surname. One Hebrew interpretation is “an oath; a biblical place.”
Original Hebrewשבע
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Hebrew interpretation is “an oath; a biblical place.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Hebrew.
How it developed
In English usage, Sheba is a short form of Bathsheba.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1916. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. In English use, Sheba is a short form of Bathsheba. The history of Bathsheba gives this family its wider story. Bathsheba has a historical association with Nonconformist Christian naming traditions.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
In the Bible
In the Bible, the name Sheba appears in Joshua 19:2.
- Joshua 19:2
- Genesis 10:7
- 1 Kings 10:1
- Matthew 12:42
From biblical name research
Sheba through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,173
- 0 boys · 1,173 girls
- Most popular year
- 1975
- 65 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 7 in 2023. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 65 in 1975. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,326 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Sheba’s family of names
In English usage, Sheba is a short form of Bathsheba. Sheba has a related form in Sheeba. Sheba has a related form in Sheaba.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 7
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 6
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Sheba
- Sheba DeirerageaNauruan weightlifterborn 1986
- Sheba TavarwisaZimbabwe African National Liberation Army person
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Sheba, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Shelah
“missionary” · “emissary”
>99% girls
Shoshannah
“resembling a graceful white lily”
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Tiria
“reverence” · “fear”
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Telah
“fracture”
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Marites
Marites is a feminine given name from Spanish, ultimately from Biblical Hebrew. It is used in Tagalog and Cebuano.
>99% girls
Mirjana
Mirjana is a feminine given name from Hebrew. It is used in Serbo-Croatian.
>99% girls
Abra
“father of a multitude (of nations)” · “father of a multitude; father of nations”
>99% girls
Tommi
Tommi is a masculine given name from Biblical Hebrew. It is used in Finnish.
2% boys · 98% girls