Sava
A Slavic name tied to *sława*, glory. In Poland it stays rare: around 140 people carry it, almost all men, and it gets given less each year.
Sava Pronunciation
What Sava means
Where Sava comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Sava reaches Polish ears through Slavic roots, where the syllable "sła-" points toward sława and chwała, glory and praise. Those are the same elements that build older names like Sławomir. So a Polish speaker meeting Sava hears something familiar, a word about renown.
There is a second thread, and it runs the other way. The saintly Sava, best known as Sava of Serbia, the monk born Rastko Nemanjić around 1174, took his monastic name from Sabbas, an Aramaic word for "old man" or "elder." That is where the sense of elder attaches to the name. It arrived later, through the Church. The Slavic sound did not put it there.
Sava is short. It sits easily on a class register between longer entries.
The same form names a river. The Sava rises in Slovenia and joins the Danube at Belgrade, one of the longest rivers of the region. So one small name holds two readings: the Slavic glory of sława and chwała, and the borrowed elder of Sabbas.
How many people are named Sava
1 in 160498 men in Poland is named Sava. 139 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2794 among male names.
Sava's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been climbing since 2025.
Sava as a middle name
Sava is a first name for 139 men in Poland and a middle name for another 9, a 94/6 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 3405th, between Sathya (9) and Savio (9).
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#3403 Sajjad9
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#3404 Sathya9
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#3405 Sava9
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#3406 Savio9
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#3407 Sevgin9