The baby name Sadie leapt from front porch rocking chair to playground, bringing it with it a wave of sweet and sparky granny-chic favorites.
Thanks to Elisabeth for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME SADIE MEAN?
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you already know that Sadie is a short form of Sarah.
That’s not necessarily common knowledge.
Credit the Normans. When they arrived in England in 1066, they brought oodles of names with them. The entire English language changed – dramatically so – and given names were no exception. Anglo-Saxon names all but disappeared, in favor of Anglo-Norman French ones.
But the names changed, too, in the new land. That meant new variants, and eventually new nicknames. The ‘r’ sound was often dropped or altered. Listen to Sarah pronounced in French today, and it’s a little easier to imagine a native English speaker – or Welsh or another language spoken circa 1060 or so – not hearing it as an R. And writing was extremely limited, only sound mattered.
Mary became Molly, and Sarah was Sally – or Sadie.
Sarah comes from the Old Testament. It’s a Hebrew name meaning princess; she’s the wife of Abraham. It’s been used across millennia, a classic among women’s given names.
Given the name’s popularity, no surprise that nicknames were necessary to distinguish between Sarahs in a community, or even the same family.
SARAH, SARA, SALLIE, SALLY, and SADIE
Biblical name Sarah is spelled Sara in many languages. Both spellings are common in English, though it’s Sarah-with-the-H that remainst most common.
Diminutives Sallie, Sally, and Sadie have all ranked in the US Top 1000 over the years as independent names. The numbers look like this as of 2023:
- Traditional Sarah stands at #91. It was a Top Ten favorite from the late 1970s into the early 2000s.
- Romance language Sara comes in at #189.
- Sally peaked in the 1930s and 40s, when it routinely appeared in the US Top 100. Today it doesn’t even make the Top 1000.
- As for Sallie, it was the preferred spelling in the 1880s and 90s, but hasn’t ranked in the Top 1000 since the 1960s.
The baby name Sadie is the current standout. As of 2023, the name ranks #59, well ahead of Sarah. Like Sallie, Sadie was a Top 100 favorite during the late nineteenth century. But it’s even more highly ranked now.
TWENTIETH CENTURY SADIES
Sadie and Bessie Delany became minor celebrities thanks to the 1993 New York Times bestseller Having Our Say, a memoir of their very long lives. Ms. Delany was 103 when the book was published.
The Delany sisters were born Sarah and Elizabeth, but other notable just-Sadies made their marks during the twentieth cenutry.
It’s hard to list them all, but here’s a good start:
- Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander was the first African American woman to earn a PhD in the US. She practiced law in Philadelphia from the 1920s into the 1980s, and was active in the civil rights movement.
- Another trailblazer was Sadie Bonnell, a female ambulance driver during the First World War.
- Comic strip Li’l Abner included a character called Sadie Hawkins from the 1930s through the 1970s. Miss Hawkins was the daughter of a prominent local family, but her less-than-lovely looks threatened to leave her a spinster. Her anxious dad created Sadie Hawkins Day – a chance for girls to pursue eligible bachelors in a footrace – and it inspired the Sadie Hawkins Dance, where young women can ask young men to dance. (No wonder this name feels antique!)
- The Beatles released a single called “Sexy Sadie” in 1968. The story behind it is tortured, but association with The Beatles isn’t a bad thing for any name. In 2007’s Across the Universe, the characters are named Lucy, Jude, and Sadie.
It’s a little bit sepia-toned by the 1960s. It left the Top 1000 entirely for about a decade.
SADIE IN POP CULTURE
The baby name Sadie didn’t stay away for long.
By the 1970s, Sadie retuned to the rankings. And by 1989, Sadie returned to the US Top 500.
Pop culture probably deserves credit for the name’s slow, steady revival.
- English actress Sadie Frost’s career began in the late 1980s. Her high-profile marriage to fellow actor Jude Law during the 1990s helped turbo-charge the name’s return. By the year 2000, the baby name Sadie returned to the US Top 250.
- Celebrities gave the name to their daughters, including Adam Sandler in 2006 and Christina Applegate in 2011.
- From 2008-2009, Dr. Sadie Harris was a character on name influence powerhouse, Grey’s Anatomy.
- American actressSadie Calvano is best known as Violet on Mom during the 2010s.
But the figure that changed everything?
Louisiana teenager Sadie Robertson, of the Duck Dynasty family.
DUCK DYNASTY’S SADIE
The A&E reality series debuted in 2012. It became an immediate hit.
It followed the Robertson family of West Monroe, Louisiana. Their business focused on products for duck hunters, especially a call known as the Duck Commander.
Phil and Si are the Robertson brothers at the head of the business, along with their sons Jase, Willie, and Jep.
Granddaughter Sadie became a breakout star between 2011 and the series’ conclusion in 2017.
Since then, she’s married and started a family, while also working as a podcast host.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME SADIE?
Proof of the Duck Dynasty effect is in the numbers.
The baby name Sadie had reached a plateau, just beyond the current US Top 100. As of 2011, it ranked #123.
By 2013, early in the show’s run? It rocketed to #49.
A decade later, in 2023, Sadie still stands at #59.
It’s brought a wave of sparky, retro names with it: Maisie, Goldie, Josie, Hattie, Winnie, Charlie, Elsie, Hallie, and too many more to list.
Worth noting: Sadie is also popular for our four-legged family members. While the data is much less precise, Sadie routinely appears on lists of top dog names. That’s not a bad thing, though. In the 2020s, a top dog name is almost always a popular child’s name, too. We love Sadie for a pet or a person.
It might also benefit from cultural crossover appeal. Sadia is an Arabic name meaning lucky. In the 1980s, singer Sade – pronounced shah-DAY – scored smooth jazz-pop crossover hits. The Nigerian-born singer’s name was short for Folasade, a gorgeous Yoruba name meaning “honor” and “royalty.”
SPARKY VINTAGE CHARMER
Casual and complete, Sadie is a sparky vintage charmer.
A generation of young women with the name continue to make their mark, like Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink, who plays Max.
It’s a great retro revival choice. If you’re after something with spirit and a certain throwback sensibility, Sadie might be the perfect name for your family.
What do you think of the name Sadie?
First published on August 21, 2014, this post was revised on January 7, 2025.
My daughter will be arriving any day now (let’s hope!!), and I am 99% sure we will be naming her Sadie Rose. She will be a sister to Gabriel (Gabe) David. We had some other names lined up, but I just wasn’t convinced or getting the feeling that they were “it” – and I like that Sadie is derived from the more traditional Sarah. With some sass and spunk to boot 🙂 I also wasn’t sure if it would bother me that she won’t have a ‘formal’ name with a nickname, like her brother (Abby, i know how you feel about that!), but so far I am good with it. I don’t watch Duck Dynasty, but I am definitely a big fan of this name!
I had a ‘Great Aunt Sadie’ of whom often reference was made when I was a child. I never could find her in the family tree until only a few years ago, to my embarrassment, I realized that my grandmother had had an Aunt Sarah.
Mystery revealed!
Her sisters were Florence, Margurite, and Golden.
My maternal grandmother’s cousin Rosie (I called her Aunt Rosie) had a mother whose name was Sadie, short for Sarah. Everyone used to call her Aunt Sadie because no one outside her immediate family knew what her real first name was. My sister and a 3rd cousin on my dad’s side are Sarah’s too, though neither of them use Sadie as a nickname.