UK boy's name
Sakariya
An Arabic name meaning "sober" or "righteous, pious".
For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2016. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.
Sakariya is a boy's name in the UK records. People looking for Sakariya popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2016 in this profile. In that release it ranked #3079, with 6 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 2005, with 9 births.
This profile covers 63 England and Wales registrations across 13 recorded years from 1998 to 2016. The figures come from ONS England and Wales, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.
The latest count is about 67% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.
We estimate that about 62 living people in the UK are called Sakariya. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2017 or 2026.
Key insights
- • Sakariya ranked #3079 for boys in England and Wales in 2016, with 6 registrations.
- • The name peaked in 2005, when 9 boys were registered as Sakariya.
- • About 62 living people in the UK are estimated to have Sakariya as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.
Latest rank (E&W)
#3079
2016
Births in 2016
6
Latest year
Peak year
2005
9 births
Estimated living
62
2026
Meaning
What does Sakariya mean?
The name Sakariya has its origins in the ancient Semitic languages, specifically Hebrew and Arabic. It is derived from the Biblical name "Zechariah," which means "God remembers" or "God has remembered." The name can be traced back to the 6th century BCE, when it was borne by the prophet Zechariah, one of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Zechariah is attributed to the prophet Zechariah, who lived during the period of the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. The name Zechariah appears multiple times in the Old Testament, including as the name of a priest who was the father of John the Baptist in the New Testament.
The Arabic variation of the name, Sakariya, is also found in the Quran, where it refers to the same biblical prophet. In Islamic tradition, Zechariah (Sakariya) is revered as one of the prophets of God and is mentioned in various verses of the Quran.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Sakariya was Sakariya al-Razi, a renowned Persian polymath who lived from 854 to 925 CE. He was a renowned physician, philosopher, and alchemist, and his contributions to various fields of knowledge were significant during the Islamic Golden Age.
Another notable figure in history with the name Sakariya was Sakariya ibn Mahmud al-Razi, a Persian physician and philosopher who lived in the 10th century CE. He was known for his works on medicine and philosophy, and his writings influenced many scholars of his time.
In the 12th century, there was Sakariya al-Qazwini, an Arab writer and geographer who authored the famous work "Aja'ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara'ib al-Mawjudat" (The Wonders of Creation and the Oddities of Existence), which was a comprehensive encyclopedia on geography, cosmography, and natural history.
In the 16th century, Sakariya al-Nawawi was an Ottoman scholar and Sufi mystic who wrote extensively on Islamic law and spirituality. He was a prominent figure in the Naqshbandi Sufi order and is revered for his contributions to Islamic literature.
Sakariya ibn Muhammad al-Qurashi was a 17th-century Arab scholar and historian from Mecca. He is known for his historical work "Al-Jawahir al-Munaddadah fi Tabaqat al-Hanafiyyah" (The Scattered Pearls in the Generations of the Hanafis), which chronicled the lives of prominent Hanafi scholars.
Sourced from namecensus.com.
Popularity
Sakariya over time
The chart below shows babies named Sakariya registered in England and Wales in the years where the name appears in the published records, from 1998 to 2016. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.
For Sakariya, the clearest high point is 2005. The latest England and Wales figure is 6 births in 2016, compared with 9 at the peak.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sakariya by decade
Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Sakariya was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.
| Decade | Average rank | Total births | Years covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | #3258 | 16 | 3 |
| 2000s | #2979 | 44 | 9 |
| 1990s | #2901 | 3 | 1 |
Related
Names similar to Sakariya
- Samuel 108,505
- Sebastian 33,008
- Sam 20,889
- Stanley 16,354
- Sonny 15,028
- Sean 15,006
- Scott 12,587
- Seth 9,841
- Syed 9,050
- Stephen 8,884
- Spencer 8,333
- Steven 6,970
FAQ
Sakariya: questions and answers
How popular is the name Sakariya in the UK right now?
In 2016, Sakariya was ranked #3079 for boys in England and Wales, with 6 births registered.
When was Sakariya most popular?
The peak year on record was 2005, with 9 babies registered as Sakariya in England and Wales.
What is the meaning and origin of Sakariya?
An Arabic name meaning "sober" or "righteous, pious".
How many people are called Sakariya in the UK?
A total of 63 babies have been registered as Sakariya across the 13 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here.
Which records is this page based on?
The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.