girl's name
Yara
YAH-rah
- Origin Arabic
- Gender Girl
- Letters 4
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 13,229
the United States
#507
2025 births
Yara is a girl's name that arrives independently from Arabic, Brazilian Tupi and Persian, and the Tupi one is a water spirit who drowns men. It ranks 181st in France and 507th in the United States.
- Yara is a name of Arabic origin.
- Peaked in 2025, when 592 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 5,600 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1969.
Yara over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1960s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1960s | 6 |
| 1970s | 122 |
| 1980s | 299 |
| 1990s | 443 |
| 2000s | 1,240 |
| 2010s | 2,418 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,037 |
What Yara means
Yara has no single meaning. Arabic reads it as small butterfly or as a capable woman; Brazilian Tupi gives Iara, a water spirit; and Persian offers a sense of courage or of a helper.
Where Yara comes from
Yara reaches modern use down three unconnected lines. The Arabic Yara is variously glossed as small butterfly or as one who is capable, and the readings are inconsistent enough that no dictionary settles it. The Brazilian Iara is a figure of Tupi-Guarani legend — a beautiful woman living in the Amazon who lures men into the water and drowns them, a story colonial writers assimilated to the European mermaid; her name is generally derived from Tupi elements meaning water and lord. Persian gives a third reading around courage or capability. The name's French and British rise is recent and driven by Middle Eastern migration rather than by the Brazilian figure, though the spelling is the same.
Yara in use
Yara ranks 181st in France with about 315 births in 2025, 311th in England and Wales with 140 births and 507th in the United States with 592 births, so it has genuine reach across six markets. It is rising, with its peak in our records in 2025, and our records carry it from 1969. Iara and Yarah are counted separately in most registers.
How popular is Yara?
In 2025, Yara was given to 592 babies in the United States, ranking #507 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Yara 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 Yara
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Yara also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Yara over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Yara 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.
Sibling names for Yara
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Yara — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Yara
What does the name Yara mean?
There is no single answer. Arabic gives small butterfly or capable; Tupi gives a water spirit; Persian gives courage.
Who is Iara?
A figure of Brazilian Tupi legend who lures men into the water and drowns them — later assimilated to the European mermaid.
Is Yara an Arabic name?
It is used as one, and that is what drives its French and British rise, though the glosses given for it are inconsistent.
How popular is Yara?
181st in France and 507th in the United States.
Is Yara a girl's or a boy's name?
Yara is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
Is Yara a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Yara currently ranks #181 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.