Sable is an English word name for the marten of northern forests and its dark, luxurious fur, from the Old French sable and ultimately a Slavic word; in heraldry sable simply means "black". It joins Raven and Ember in the group of dark, atmospheric nature names for girls. Sable had sat around number 5,000 for a decade before it leapt to number 2,717 in 2025, its best rank in the United States, with 64 births.