girl's name
Tara
TAR-uh
- Origin Irish
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 4
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 197,205
the United States
#844
2025 births
Tara is a girl's name from the hill in County Meath where the High Kings were inaugurated, and its meaning is a place of assembly. It ranks 168th in Ireland and 844th in the United States.
- Tara is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in 1972, when 7,268 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 10,296 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1939.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Tara over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1930s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1930s | 7 |
| 1940s | 392 |
| 1950s | 3,175 |
| 1960s | 14,583 |
| 1970s | 65,324 |
| 1980s | 56,538 |
| 1990s | 23,421 |
| 2000s | 8,572 |
| 2010s | 2,911 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,432 |
What Tara means
Tara means a place of assembly, or an elevated place. The Irish Teamhair is generally read that way, describing ground set aside for gathering rather than a hill in the ordinary sense.
Where Tara comes from
Tara anglicizes the Irish Teamhair, the hill in County Meath that served as the seat of the High Kings; the Lia Fáil, the stone said to cry out under the rightful king, still stands there. The word is usually read as a place of assembly. Its use as a given name is not Irish in origin: Margaret Mitchell named the plantation in Gone with the Wind Tara in 1936, after the Irish hill, and the 1939 film pushed the name into American use — so Ireland exported a place name, America turned it into a girl's name, and Ireland then imported it back. A separate Tara is the Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion, from a Sanskrit word for star, and that is an entirely unconnected name that shares the spelling.
Tara in use
Tara ranks 168th in Ireland with 28 births in 2025 and 844th in the United States with 322 births, and it is falling in our data from a peak in 1972. Our records carry it from 1939 — the year of the film, which is as direct a cause as our data ever shows. It appears in every market we hold except Northern Ireland.
How popular is Tara?
In 2025, Tara was given to 322 babies in the United States, ranking #844 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Tara is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Tara
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Tara also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Tara over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Tara in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Tarah
Sibling names for Tara
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Tara — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Tara
What does the name Tara mean?
Tara means "a place of assembly," from the Irish Teamhair — the hill where the High Kings were inaugurated.
Is Tara from Gone with the Wind?
As a girl's name, largely yes. Mitchell named the plantation after the Irish hill and the 1939 film made it a name — our records begin that year.
Is the Buddhist Tara related?
No. That is Sanskrit, meaning star, and shares only the spelling.
How popular is Tara?
168th in Ireland and 844th in the United States.
Is Tara a girl's or a boy's name?
Tara is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Tara?
Tara has 2 syllables.
Is Tara a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Tara currently ranks #168 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.