Iara
A feminine name of Brazilian indigenous origin meaning "lady of the waters".
Name Census estimates that about 209 living Americans carry the first name Iara. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Iara today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Iara births was 2009 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Iara. 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 Iara with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
209
~ 1 in 1,639,973 Americans
Peak year
2009
16 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,030
Tracked since 2002
Census
Iara in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 489 people with the first name Iara, which placed it at #20,938 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
#20,938
National first-name rank
People counted
489
489 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Iara
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Iara is White at 47.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (39.9%) and Black (6.5%). 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 Iara 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 Iara at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.6% · 233
- Hispanic or Latino39.9% · 195
- Black or African American6.5% · 32
- Two or more races3.1% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 14
Popularity
Iara: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Iara from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 83 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Iara remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Iara 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 Iara 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 Iara
The name Iara is believed to have its origins in the Tupi language, spoken by indigenous people of Brazil. It is derived from the Tupi word "y'ara," which translates to "lady of the waters" or "water queen." The Tupi people inhabited the coastal regions of Brazil before the arrival of European colonizers.
Iara is closely associated with the mythological figure of the same name in Brazilian folklore. According to legend, Iara is a beautiful mermaid-like creature who lures unsuspecting men into the rivers and lakes with her enchanting singing voice, causing them to drown. The myth of Iara is deeply rooted in the cultural beliefs and stories of the indigenous people of Brazil.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Iara can be traced back to the 16th century, when Portuguese explorers and colonists encountered the Tupi people and recorded their language and customs. The name appeared in writings and records from that period, often referring to the mythological figure or to individuals from the Tupi tribes.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Iara. One of the earliest recorded examples is Iara Tupinambá (c. 1560-1580), a young Tupi woman who played a significant role in the early interactions between the indigenous people and the Portuguese colonizers in Brazil.
Another notable figure is Iara Iavelberg (1933-2022), a Brazilian psychoanalyst and writer who made significant contributions to the field of psychoanalysis and published several books on the subject.
In the world of literature, Iara Jamra (born 1956) is a Brazilian novelist and short story writer whose works explore themes of identity, family, and the human experience. Her novel "Damas da Noite" (Ladies of the Night) received critical acclaim.
Iara Ferreira Machado (born 1982) is a Brazilian swimmer who competed in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, winning a silver medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Lastly, Iara Nascimento (born 1988) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and former UFC fighter, known for her skill in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and her successful career in the women's bantamweight division.
People
Iara + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Iara as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Iara: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Iara?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 209 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Iara 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 1,639,973 US residents.
Is Iara a common name?
We classify Iara as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 211 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Iara most popular?
The single biggest year for Iara was 2009, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Iara is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Iara in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 489 people with the name Iara, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,938 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 Iara 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 Iara?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Iara appears almost entirely female. Of the 491 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Iara?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Iara is White at 47.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (39.9%) and Black (6.5%). 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 Iara most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Iara in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.6% (233 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 Iara in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Iara a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Iara 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 Iara still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Iara 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 Iara 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 share the name Iara?
Want to know how many Americans are named Iara? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.