Aira
Of English origin, meaning "air" or "wind".
Name Census estimates that about 1,086 living Americans carry the first name Aira. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aira today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aira births was 2024 (179 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aira. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Aira with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Aira is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 9 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 315,612 Americans
Peak year
2024
179 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,288
Tracked since 1983
Census
Aira in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 813 people with the first name Aira, which placed it at #14,487 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,487
National first-name rank
People counted
813
813 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
54.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aira
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aira is Asian/Pacific Islander at 54.4%. The next largest groups are White (18.1%) and Hispanic (18.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Aira described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Aira at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander54.4% · 442
- White18.1% · 147
- Hispanic or Latino18.1% · 147
- Two or more races4.7% · 38
- Black or African American3.7% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 9
Popularity
Aira: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aira from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 595 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aira by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Aira during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Airas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Aira, while Minnesota, Massachusetts, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aira
The name Aira is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that is still widely used in India and parts of South Asia. In Sanskrit, the word "aira" means "air" or "wind," suggesting that the name may have been inspired by the natural elements.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Aira can be traced back to Hindu mythology, where it was mentioned as the name of a minor goddess associated with the wind. However, the name does not appear to have been widely used in ancient Hindu texts or scriptures.
The earliest known historical figure with the name Aira was Princess Aira of Kamarupa, a medieval Indian princess who lived in the 12th century CE. She was renowned for her beauty and wisdom, and her name was immortalized in local folklore and literature.
In the 16th century, Aira was also the name of a renowned female painter from the Mughal Empire, known for her intricate miniature paintings depicting scenes from court life and nature.
During the 19th century, the name Aira gained some popularity in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia. One notable bearer of the name was Aira Samuelsdotter, a Swedish artist and illustrator born in 1854, who was renowned for her nature-inspired paintings and illustrations.
Another historical figure with the name Aira was Aira Kémileva, a Russian poet and writer born in 1888. She was part of the Silver Age of Russian poetry and was known for her lyrical and romantic works that explored themes of love, nature, and spirituality.
It is worth noting that the name Aira has been relatively uncommon throughout history, but it has maintained a subtle presence across various cultures and time periods, often associated with artistic, poetic, or natural themes.
People
Aira + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aira as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Aira: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aira?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,086 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aira going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 315,612 US residents.
Is Aira a common name?
We classify Aira as "Rare". It ranks above 90.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,095 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aira most popular?
The single biggest year for Aira was 2024, when 179 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aira is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aira in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 813 people with the name Aira, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,487 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Aira in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Aira?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aira leans strongly female. 792 people counted with this name were female (97.3%), compared with 22 male bearers (2.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Aira?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aira is Asian/Pacific Islander at 54.4%. The next largest groups are White (18.1%) and Hispanic (18.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Aira most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Aira in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.4% (442 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Aira in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aira a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aira in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Aira still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aira in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Aira can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Aira?
See how many Americans are named Aira on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.