Inara
Of Arabic origin, meaning ray of light or heaven sent.
Name Census estimates that about 2,322 living Americans carry the first name Inara. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Inara today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Inara births was 2023 (178 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Inara. 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 Inara with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Inara is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 147,612 Americans
Peak year
2023
178 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,339
Tracked since 1998
Census
Inara in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,694 people with the first name Inara, which placed it at #8,550 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
#8,550
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,694 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Inara
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Inara is White at 52.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.5%) and Two or More Races (12.9%). 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 Inara 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 Inara at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.9% · 896
- Hispanic or Latino14.5% · 245
- Two or more races12.9% · 219
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.6% · 214
- Black or African American6.6% · 112
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 8
Popularity
Inara: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Inara from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,159 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Inara remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Inara 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 Inara during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Inaras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Inara, while Minnesota, Connecticut, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 51 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Inara
The name Inara has its origins in Arabic and Sanskrit languages. It is derived from the Arabic word "Nur" which means "light" or "illumination." In Sanskrit, the word "Nar" means "fire" or "energy." The name Inara is a combination of these two roots, suggesting a meaning of "fiery light" or "radiant energy."
The earliest known use of the name Inara can be traced back to the 7th century AD in the Middle East and South Asia. It was a relatively uncommon name during that time period but gained popularity among Muslim and Hindu communities over the centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Inara is found in the ancient Persian epic poem, the Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi around 1010 AD. The poem mentions a character named Inara, who was a brave and skilled archer.
In the 12th century, there was a famous Islamic scholar and poet named Inara al-Andalusi, who was born in Seville, Spain, in 1165. She was renowned for her contributions to Arabic literature and her expertise in various fields, including grammar, poetry, and jurisprudence.
Another notable figure named Inara was Inara Begum, a 16th-century Mughal princess and the daughter of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. She was known for her beauty, intelligence, and patronage of the arts.
In the 19th century, Inara Dutt was a prominent Bengali writer, social reformer, and educator. She was born in 1826 and played a significant role in promoting women's education and advocating for social reforms in India.
Inara Barnett was a British artist and sculptor who lived from 1890 to 1985. She was known for her innovative use of materials and her contributions to the development of modern sculpture in the United Kingdom.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who bore the name Inara throughout history, showcasing the name's rich cultural heritage and diverse backgrounds.
People
Inara + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Inara 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
Inara: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Inara?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,322 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Inara 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 147,612 US residents.
Is Inara a common name?
We classify Inara as "Rare". It ranks above 94.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,341 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Inara most popular?
The single biggest year for Inara was 2023, when 178 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Inara is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Inara in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,694 people with the name Inara, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,550 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 Inara 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 Inara?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Inara appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,700 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Inara?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Inara is White at 52.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.5%) and Two or More Races (12.9%). 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 Inara most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Inara in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.9% (896 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 Inara in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Inara a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Inara 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 Inara still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Inara 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 Inara 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 are named Inara?
Find out how many Americans are named Inara on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.