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Sabrina - Origin and Meaning of the name


[ 3 syll. sa-bri-na, sab-r-ina ] The girl name Sabrina is pronounced SahBRIYNah KEY. Sabrina's language of origin is Celtic. It is predominantly used in Czech, English, German, and Italian. Habren (Celtic), Hafren (Celtic), and Sabrina (Latinized) are original forms of the name. The name was borne in Celtic mythology by Hafren, a princess who was cast into the River Severn in Wales. The river was variously known as Habren via the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth, or as the Latinized form Sabrina in works by Tacitus and Bede. According to legend, the river was supposedly named after the princess, but in fact the character was so named or created to explain the origins of river name. The legendary Sabrina later appeared in literary works such as John Milton's masque Comus (1637), as a water nymph of the Severn who frees the heroine on account of the latter's virtuous character. It also appeared in Sabrina Fair (1953), a romantic comedy by Samuel A. Taylor which cited Milton's work. The first name was adopted by English speakers in the 19th century.

Variants of Sabrina include Brina (English), Sabreen (English), Sabrin (English), Sabrine (English), Sabrinia (English), Sabrinna (English), Sabriya (English), Sabryn (English), and Saprina (English). The spelling variants Sabreena (English), Sabrena (English), Sabrinah (English), Sabryna (English), and Sebrina (English) are other forms of the name.

Sabrina is a popular baby girl name. The name's popularity grew from the 1950s up to the 1990s; before that, it was of only irregular use. Its usage peaked modestly in 1997 with 0.305% of baby girls being named Sabrina. It had a ranking of #53 then. The baby name has experienced a decline in popularity since then. In 2008, it ranked at #185 with a usage of 0.087%, but it was nevertheless the most commonly used among all girl names in its family.

Baby names that sound like Sabrina include Sabrinah (English), Sabrinna (English), Sabryna (English), Saprina (English), Sebrina (English), Séverine (French), Sophrona (English), Sabreen (English), Sabrena (English), Sabrin (English), Sabrine (English), Sabrinia (English), Sabryn (English), Seferina (Spanish), Severina (German, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Slavic), Sofronia (Greek and Italian), Sophronia (English), and Sabreena (English).

KEY: Pronunciation for Sabrina: S as in "sea (S.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; B as in "be (B.IY)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"


 
Popularity Trend
for Sabrina
from 1900 to 2008
Variant Popularity Chart
for Sabrina
in 2008
 

Meaning of Sabrina Meaning of Sebrina Meaning of Sabryna Meaning of Sabrinah Meaning of Sabrena Meaning of Sabreena Meaning of Saprina Meaning of Sabryn Meaning of Sabriya Meaning of Sabrinna Meaning of Sabrinia Meaning of Sabrine Meaning of Sabrin Meaning of Sabreen Meaning of Brina Meaning of Brianna