Sabrina (given name)

Sabrina is a feminine given name derived from the Romano-British name of the River Severn.[2]

Sabrina
GenderFemale
Language(s)Romano-British
Origin
MeaningFrom the name of River Severn[1]

It is also the romanization of an unrelated Arabic name, صابرينا ṣābrīnā, from the root sabr "patience".

Etymology

The name of the river is attested as latinized Sabrina in the 2nd century. The reconstructed British form is *sabrinā. The modern Welsh form is Hafren, Habren. Milton adopted the legend in his Comus (1634), using the Latin form Sabrina. Fletcher refers to the legend in The Faithful Shepherdess (1608).

The name was not used in Britain, with the singular exception of Sabrina Sidney (1757–1843), an English foundling girl, named for her orphanage overlooking River Severn, prior to the 19th century, and then very rarely.[3] Its popularity rose, at first in the United States, in the wake of the film Sabrina (1954), a romantic drama-comedy where the protagonist Sabrina Fairchild was played by Audrey Hepburn.

Welsh legend
Main article: Hafren

According to a legend recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century, Habren was the daughter of a king named Locrinus (also known as Locrin or Locrine in English) by his mistress, the Germanic princess Estrildis. Locrinus ruled England after the death of his father, Brutus of Troy, the legendary second founder of Britain. Locrinus cast aside his wife, Guendolen, and their son Maddan and acknowledged Sabrina and her mother, but the enraged Guendolen raised an army against him and defeated Locrinus in battle. Guendolen then ordered that Sabrina and her mother be drowned in the river. The river was named after Sabrina so Locrine's betrayal of Guendolen would never be forgotten.[4] According to legend, Sabrina lives in the river, which reflects her mood. She rides in a chariot and dolphins and salmon swim alongside her.[5] The later story suggests that the legend of Sabrina could have become intermingled with old stories of a river goddess or nymph.[6]

Popularity

The name gained popularity following the release of the film Sabrina (1954), based on Samuel Taylor's Sabrina Fair (1953).

It was the 789th most popular name for girls born in the United States in 1954, and rose to the 245th most popular name in 1955.[7] Dunkling (1983) notes that "[i]n the U.S. Sabrina has tended to displace Sabina since [the 1950s]."[3]

Its use has continued, boosted by the popularity of the comic book character Sabrina the Teenage Witch, who debuted in 1962. It had peaks in popularity in 1970 (rank 107) and 1977 (rank 63). A television series featured the character in 1996, resulting in a renewed peak in 1997 (rank 53). The name was ranked as the 427th most popular name for U.S.-born girls in 2018.[7] The name peaked in popularity in France in 1979–1981 (rank 8) and in Italy in 2001 (rank 35). In Germany, it peaked in popularity at rank 8 in 1987 and 1989.[2]

People
  • Sabrina Sidney (1757–1843), English foundling girl, named for her orphanage overlooking River Severn.
  • Sabrina Le Beauf (born 1958), American actress from the Cosby Show
  • Sabrina Dornhoefer (born 1963), American middle distance runner
  • Sabrina Ferilli (born 1964), Italian actress
  • Sabrina Goleš (born 1965), Croatian tennis player who represented Yugoslavia
  • Sabrina Brazzo (born 1968), Italian ballerina
  • Sabrina Salerno (born 1968), stage name of Norma Salerno, an Italian Disco singer, actress and model
  • Sabrina Lloyd (born 1970), American actress who starred in Sliders and Sports Night
  • Sabrina Erdely (born 1971/1972), American magazine reporter known for the defamatory Rolling Stone article "A Rape on Campus"
  • Sabrina Sabrok (born 1976), Argentine-Mexican model and host
  • Sabrina Richard (born 1977), French weightlifter
  • Sabrina Sato (born 1981), Brazilian tv show host and comedian
  • Sabrina (Portuguese artist) (born 1982), stage name of Teresa Villa-Lobos, a Portuguese singer
  • Sabrina Bryan (born 1984), stage name Reba Hinojos, a Cheetah Girl
  • Sabrina Benaim (born 1992), Canadian writer, performance artist, and slam poet
  • Sabrina Ionescu (born 1997), American basketball player
  • Sabrina Carpenter (born 1999), American teen actress and singer

Anglicization of the Arabic name صابرينا:

  • Sabrina Mahfouz (year of birth unknown), British-Egyptian poet (active from 2010).

Pseudonyms

  • Sabrina (actress) (1936-2016), stage name (adopted 1955) of Norma Ann Sykes, a British glamour model and actress
  • Sabrina Jeffries (active since 1992), pen name of Deborah Gonzales, an American author

Fictional characters

See also
  • Sabrina (disambiguation) for other uses

Notes
  1. Hanks, Patrick (2003). "Severn". Dictionary of American Family Names. Retrieved 10 December 2012. [T]opographic name from the river Severn, which flows from Wales through much of western England to the Bristol Channel. The river name is recorded as early as the 2nd century ad in the form Sabrina. This is one of Britain’s most ancient river names; the original meaning is uncertain, but it may have been ‘slow-moving’, alternatively "boundary", see "Sabrina." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper. Retrieved 7 January 2013. <Etymonline.com http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Sabrina>.
  2. Behind the Name
  3. Dunkling, Leslie; Gosling, William (1983), The Facts on File Dictionary of First Names, New York: Facts on File Publications, p. 247, ISBN 0-87196-274-8
  4. The Legend of Sabrina
  5. Tidal Bore Research Society
  6. Liam Rogers (1999), Sabrina and the River Severn
  7. United States Social Security Administration
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