First names in Hebrew

First name Sarai: meaning, origin and its Hebrew spelling

שרי

Gematria value: 510

Its spelling

In Hebrew, Sarai is written שרי

Sarai is the first name of Sarah, שרי in Hebrew.

Meaning and origin

What does Sarai mean?

Meaning: "my princess"
Origin: Hebrew

Sarai is the name Sarah bore for most of her life, until God gave her a new one: “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, for Sarah is her name” (Genesis 17:15). Both come from sar, “prince”: Sarai is “my princess”. The Talmud explains the change: Sarai was a princess for her own people, Sarah became a princess for the whole world (Berakhot 13a). Today Sarai is also given in America as a name of its own.

Gematria

Sarai = 510

In Hebrew, every letter is also a number. Added together, the letters of the name give its value: this is gematria. שרי has 3 letters:

• שthe letter Shin300
• רthe letter Resh200
• יthe letter Yod10
• Total510

The verse of the name

From the letter Shin to the letter Yod

An ancient custom gives each person a verse: the one that begins with the first letter of their name and ends with the last. For Sarai, from ש to י:

שִׁיר לַמַּעֲלוֹת אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי אֶל־הֶהָרִים מֵאַיִן יָבֹא עֶזְרִי׃

“A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to the mountains: from where will my help come?”

Psalms 121:1

The book of your first name

Sarai, in nine pages

• Sarai, in Hebrew
• Letter by letter
• The number of your name
• The verse of your name
• The portrait of Sarai
• Sarai, day to day
• What tradition says about names
• The sources

Frequently asked

Sarai in three answers

How do you write Sarai in Hebrew?
In Hebrew, Sarai is written שרי. Sarai is the first name of Sarah, שרי in Hebrew.

What is the gematria value of Sarai?
Written שרי, Sarai is worth 510: the letter Shin (300) + the letter Resh (200) + the letter Yod (10).

What does Sarai mean?
My princess (origin: Hebrew). Sarai is the name Sarah bore for most of her life, until God gave her a new one: “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, for Sarah is her name” (Genesis 17:15). Both come from sar, “prince”: Sarai is “my princess”. The Talmud explains the change: Sarai was a princess for her own people, Sarah became a princess for the whole world (Berakhot 13a). Today Sarai is also given in America as a name of its own.