The baby name Sapphire fits right in with Ruby and Pearl.
Thanks to Chante for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME SAPPHIRE MEAN?
We recognize gemstone names. Choices like Opal and Jade feel quite familiar.
Others, like Onyx, are relative newcomers.
Sapphire falls somewhere in between.
We love color names, too, from Scarlett to Blue Ivy. Speaking of blue, names like Navy and Indigo rank in the current US Top 1000.
Sapphire comes from the Latin word sapphirus, ultimately from the Greek word for blue stone – sappheiros – or possibly even the Hebrew sappir.
There’s also speculation that sapphirus comes from a Sanskrit word meaning sacred to Saturn.
The word has a long history of use, but it may not have always applied exclusively to the stone we know today. It’s possible sapphirus also referred to lapis lazuli, another blue gemstone.
Since the seventeenth century, Sapphire has also been a color name, a shade of deep, rich blue.
SAPPHIRA
In the New Testament, Sapphira appears with her husband in the of the Apostles. They’re not exactly role models. First Ananias, her husband, lies to the apostle Peterabout money and falls dead. The newly widowed Sapphira repeats the lie and meets the same fate.
WillaCather wrote a novel called Sapphira and the Slave Girl, but her Sapphira isn’t admirable, either.
On a very different note, there’s a blue dragon named Saphira in Christopher Paolini’s book Eragon. She belongs to a farm boy-turned-dragon rider named, naturally, Eragon. In 2006, the book inspired a movie.
THE MEANING OF SAPPHIRES
The gemstones themselves symbolize lots of positive attributes – heaven in the Middle Ages, truth, sincerity, and loyalty. It’s sometimes called “the wisdom stone,” believed to bring clarity and insight.
It is the birthstone for September and common in engagement rings.
Back in 1981, Prince Charles proposed to Lady Dianawith a sapphire. It’s the same ring her son, Prince Williameventually gave to KateMiddleton.
The gems are big with royals, and many notable sapphires have been part of crown jewels.
SAPPHIRE IN POP CULTURE
The baby name Sapphire has appeared in pop culture just a handful of times:
- A character in Amos ‘n’ Andy.
- A superhero in the DC Comics universe, born Candice Jean Gennaro, sometimes known as Star Sapphire.
- In the Pokemon universe, Sapphire Birch is a Pokemon trainer.
- Animated series Steven Universe also gave the name to a character.
Back to Amos ‘n’ Andy for a minute. Sapphire Stevens was a stereotype of an African American woman, and the character lent her name to the entire category of fictional characters. From the show’s start on the radio in 1928, into the 1950s as a television series, Amos ‘n’ Andy was popular and problematic.
It’s possible that this helped discourage parents from choosing the name – either because they accurately put it in the same category as damaging stereotypes like Jemima, or accepted the Sapphire personality traits the caricature suggested.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME SAPPHIRE?
In 1979, Sapphire debuted in the US Social Security Administration’s data with five births. That’s well after Amos ‘n’ Andy had started to fade, so perhaps that’s part of the reason the name wasn’t more popular in the past.
It gained in use over the decades, accelerating in the 2010s.
The baby name Sapphire entered the US Top 1000 in 2022. As of 2023, it stood at #973.
That’s uncommon, but it’s definitely not the rarest name. It’s not even the common jewel name. Topaz, Peridot, and even Diamond are less common now.
As for the Biblical Sapphira? It was given to just 44 girls in 2023. An additional 12 were named Safira.
BLUE-HUED NAMED WITH RICH POTENTIAL
The baby name Sapphire sounds a little like Sarah and Sophie. Josephine and Seraphina are two more sound-alike names.
With ties to royalty, particularly the late Princess Diana, there’s an elegance and grace to Sapphire.
If Emerald is trending, shouldn’t Sapphire belong, too?
In a jewelry box full of options, the baby name Sapphire is the precious gemstone that checks all the boxes: familiar but quite rare, in step with popular names but also distinct and different.
Overall, it’s a meaningful name that brings to mind colorful choices like Violet, as well as nature names like River. There’s a depth and intensity to this name, oen that would serve a child well.
What do you think of the name Sapphire?
First published on May 17, 2012, this post was revise on March 21, 2025.
I named my daughter Saphire Rose and I always get comments on how beautiful and unique it is. My daughter fits the name perfectly, very colorful and a little ball of fire. She likes being called Sappy and Rosie, but I still call her Saphire. Once they hear her name people always remember who she is. Saphire Rose fits her perfectly.
This is my name and no one has ever made fun of me…well since grade school anyway 🙂
Can totally see this name as usable – the short form Sapphy is basically the same nickname that people use for Saffron.
I know people are saying “stripper name” but 20 years ago that’s exactly what people said about Ruby too, and now she’s #1 in some states. I imagine the same kind of people who were daring enough to see past Ruby’s past history would be attracted to Sapphire.
Personally I much prefer Sapphira though, despite being a Biblical bad girl.
The nickname sapphy……has been my arch nemesis all.my life…I hate it!
I have a friend who says weird things often. “Ahh, Sapphire!” is one of them. I toy with Safira though. Feels exotic & sweet all at the same time. Sapphira, while having the same sound,is too clunky looking for me. What a stunning middle Sapphire would make: Anna Sapphire, Fiona Sapphire, Katharine Sapphire, Tova Sapphire. Yep, Sapphire works great in the middle for me!
Sapphires are beautiful gems, and I adore the color blue, but I am not sure I could use this as a first name. I do think it would make an unusual and unexpected middle name. I like the idea of using gems as a middle, and have considered using Opal as a middle to honor the fact that both of my parents were born in October.
I’m sorry to any Sapphire’s out there, but I have to agree with the stripper association. It’s way too strong. Then again, we’ve vetoed Ruby, Scarlett, and Layla because they sound “too sexy”. Pearl, on the other hand, sounds almost pious. I could get behind Sapphira though…
Sapphire is the pen name of the woman who wrote the book “Push” which became the movie “Precious” That is the most emotionally disturbing book I have ever read. Fantastic book but tough on the soul so I have a hard time seeing the name as usable on a little girl. Weird how name associations can be so strong.
And Sapphire took her name from “cultural association with the image of a belligerent Black woman” i.e the Amos n’ Andy character.
There’s an article about the Sapphire Caricature on the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia’s website. https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/sapphire/
I appreciate Sapphire’s writing, but I wouldn’t touch this name with a ten-foot-pole.
My cousin likes Sapphira. It’s less obviously strippery and there’s a Biblical context.
To me Sapphire will forever be a stripper name.