Savanna
Meaning
grassy plain, from Spanish sabana via Taino
The story
Savanna is the grassland worn as a name, Spanish sabana by way of Taino, one of the words the Caribbean gave the world's languages, and this h-less spelling stays closest to the landscape itself. It entered the American record in the 1970s, a step behind Savannah, whose Georgia-city glamour led the whole family's 1990s rise, and it peaked across the 2000s and 2010s before easing gently. Choosing Savanna over Savannah is choosing the ecosystem over the zip code: the shorter spelling keeps the common noun's wide, golden, unfenced openness, while the h-version leans on Spanish moss and southern architecture. Both spellings carry the same open-air promise, a horizon folded into three syllables, running under the sound's modern popularity. Either way the choice lands, the name keeps a rare talent: it makes a room feel slightly larger the moment it is said.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Savanna peaked in the 2000s and the 2010s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
141 people · the #32,449 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 24
Among people named Savanna living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Savanna
Most people given the name Savanna in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Savanna deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Savanna truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Savanna fits with your family’s names and surname.
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