Khira
A feminine Arabic name meaning "summer vegetable" or "green cucumber".
Name Census estimates that about 298 living Americans carry the first name Khira. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Khira today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khira births was 2008 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khira. 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 Khira with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
298
~ 1 in 1,150,182 Americans
Peak year
2008
19 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2021 SSA rank
#10,709
Tracked since 1982
Census
Khira in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 293 people with the first name Khira, which placed it at #29,959 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
#29,959
National first-name rank
People counted
293
293 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
47.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Khira
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khira is Black at 47.4%. The next largest groups are White (31.7%) and Hispanic (9.2%). 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 Khira 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 Khira at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American47.4% · 139
- White31.7% · 93
- Hispanic or Latino9.2% · 27
- Two or more races7.5% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 3
Popularity
Khira: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Khira from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 122 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Khira 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 Khira 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 Khira
The name Khira is a feminine given name with origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the Arabic word "khayr," which means "good" or "goodness." The name is believed to have emerged in the Middle East region during the early Islamic era, around the 7th century AD.
In its earliest form, the name was likely spelled as "Khayra" or "Khayrah," reflecting the Arabic root word more closely. Over time, the spelling evolved to its more modern variation of "Khira," which is commonly used today in various Arabic-speaking regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Khira can be found in historical texts from the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled over a vast territory spanning parts of the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia between the 8th and 13th centuries. During this period, the name was borne by several notable women, although specific details about their lives and accomplishments are scarce.
Throughout history, the name Khira has been associated with a handful of influential figures. One such individual was Khira al-Sammaniyya, a renowned 9th-century poet and scholar from Baghdad, who was highly respected for her literary contributions and intellectual prowess. Another notable bearer of the name was Khira bint Abi Bakr al-Baghdadi (born 789 AD), a prominent Islamic scholar and hadith transmitter from the Abbasid era.
In the realm of religion and spirituality, the name Khira has been mentioned in various Islamic texts and traditions. It is believed to be one of the names of Paradise mentioned in the Quran, further solidifying its connection to the concept of goodness and virtue in Islamic culture.
Beyond the Arab world, the name Khira has also been recorded in other cultures and regions, though its usage has been relatively limited. For example, there are records of a Khira al-Samarkandiyya, a 10th-century female poet and scholar from Samarkand, in present-day Uzbekistan.
While the name Khira has not been as widely popular as some other Arabic names, it has maintained a consistent presence throughout history, particularly in the Middle East and parts of the Islamic world. Its enduring appeal lies in its association with positive virtues and its deep-rooted cultural and linguistic origins.
People
Khira + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khira as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Khira: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khira?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 298 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khira 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 1,150,182 US residents.
Is Khira a common name?
We classify Khira as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 304 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khira most popular?
The single biggest year for Khira was 2008, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khira is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Khira in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 293 people with the name Khira, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,959 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 Khira 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 Khira?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khira leans strongly female. 289 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Khira?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khira is Black at 47.4%. The next largest groups are White (31.7%) and Hispanic (9.2%). 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 Khira most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Khira in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.4% (139 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 Khira in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khira a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Khira 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 Khira still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khira 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 Khira 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 Khira?
Find out how many Americans are named Khira on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.