Girl name origins & meanings
- Japanese : A swamp
Family name origins & meanings
- Japanese (mostly found in eastern Japan) : meaning ‘swamp’, it is sometimes written with characters used phonetically. A few bearers have samurai connections. The name is not very common in Japan, but is a very common element in many other names; so some instances in America could have been shortened from names either beginning or ending with sawa.
- Polish : from the personal name Sawa, from Greek Sabbas (see Savas).