Hara
A name of Hebrew origin meaning "mountain or hill".
Name Census estimates that about 109 living Americans carry the first name Hara. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hara today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hara births was 1985 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hara. 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 Hara with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
109
~ 1 in 3,144,535 Americans
Peak year
1985
8 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,106
Tracked since 1954
Census
Hara in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 344 people with the first name Hara, which placed it at #26,849 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
#26,849
National first-name rank
People counted
344
344 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hara
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hara is White at 51.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (31.4%) and Black (8.4%). 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 Hara 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 Hara at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.7% · 178
- Asian and Pacific Islander31.4% · 108
- Black or African American8.4% · 29
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 16
- Two or more races3.8% · 13
Popularity
Hara: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hara from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 46 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hara 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 Hara during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hara
The name Hara is believed to have its origins in ancient Sanskrit, one of the oldest Indo-Aryan languages. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "hara," meaning "he who takes away" or "the remover." The name is thought to have emerged around the 2nd century BCE in the Indian subcontinent.
In Hinduism, the name Hara is one of the many names for the deity Shiva, who is known as the destroyer or transformer in the Hindu trinity. The name is mentioned in various ancient Hindu scriptures, including the Vedas and the Puranas, where Shiva is referred to as "Hara" or "Hara-Hara."
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Hara can be found in the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic poem composed around the 8th century BCE. In the text, Hara is mentioned as one of the names of Shiva, who plays a significant role in the epic.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hara. One of the most famous was Hara Shigenobu (1542-1614), a Japanese samurai and military commander who served under Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Sengoku period in Japan.
Another notable figure was Hara Kei (1856-1923), a Japanese politician and the 14th Prime Minister of Japan from 1918 to 1921. He played a crucial role in the establishment of the Universal Manhood Suffrage Act in Japan.
In ancient Greece, the name Hara was also used, though with a slightly different spelling. Hara of Samos (6th century BCE) was a Greek mathematician and philosopher, known for his contributions to the field of geometry.
In the realm of literature, Hara Shiro (1905-1968) was a renowned Japanese novelist and poet, known for his works exploring existential themes and the human condition.
Lastly, Hara Hiroshi (1936-2018) was a Japanese film director and screenwriter, best known for his critically acclaimed films such as "The Funeral" and "Grave of the Fireflies."
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Hara throughout history, showcasing its widespread use and significance across various cultures and time periods.
People
Hara + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hara as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hara: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hara?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 109 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hara 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 3,144,535 US residents.
Is Hara a common name?
We classify Hara as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 117 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hara most popular?
The single biggest year for Hara was 1985, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hara is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hara in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 344 people with the name Hara, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,849 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 Hara 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 Hara?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hara leans strongly female. 295 people counted with this name were female (84.5%), compared with 54 male bearers (15.5%). 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 Hara?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hara is White at 51.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (31.4%) and Black (8.4%). 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 Hara most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hara in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.7% (178 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 Hara in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hara a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hara 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 Hara still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hara 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 Hara 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 people have Hara as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.