Khyra
Feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly Arabic, with no definitive meaning agreed upon.
Name Census estimates that about 433 living Americans carry the first name Khyra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Khyra today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Khyra births was 2006 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Khyra. 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 Khyra with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
433
~ 1 in 791,580 Americans
Peak year
2006
26 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,885
Tracked since 1991
Census
Khyra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 344 people with the first name Khyra, 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
Black or African American
62.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Khyra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khyra is Black at 62.5%. The next largest groups are White (14.0%) and Hispanic (10.2%). 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 Khyra 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 Khyra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American62.5% · 215
- White14.0% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino10.2% · 35
- Two or more races10.2% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 3
Popularity
Khyra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Khyra from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 186 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
Khyra 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 Khyra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Khyras live
Origin
Meaning and history of Khyra
The name Khyra is believed to have its origins in the ancient Persian language, dating back to the 6th century BCE. It is thought to be derived from the Persian word "khur," which means "sun" or "radiant." In this sense, the name Khyra may have been bestowed upon individuals with a bright and sunny disposition or a radiant personality.
During the reign of the Achaemenid Empire in ancient Persia, which spanned from 550 BCE to 330 BCE, the name Khyra is believed to have been in use. However, there are no definitive records or ancient texts that specifically mention individuals bearing this name from that time period.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Khyra can be traced back to the 10th century CE, when it appears in various Persian literary works and historical accounts. One notable individual from this era was Khyra al-Tusi, a renowned Persian mathematician and astronomer who lived from 940 CE to 1019 CE. He made significant contributions to the fields of trigonometry and spherical geometry.
In the 13th century, a Persian poet named Khyra al-Din Navayi (1441 CE - 1501 CE) gained fame for his literary works, including the epic poem "Khamsa." His works celebrated the beauty of the Persian language and played a significant role in the development of Chagatai literature.
During the Safavid Dynasty in Persia, which ruled from 1501 CE to 1736 CE, the name Khyra was particularly popular among the nobility and aristocracy. One notable figure from this period was Khyra Begum (1577 CE - 1623 CE), a princess and the daughter of Shah Abbas I, the fifth Safavid ruler.
In more recent times, the name Khyra has been used across various cultures and regions, although its popularity has varied. One notable individual bearing this name was Khyra Thumser, a pioneering Tibetan female doctor and activist who lived from 1904 CE to 1980 CE. She was instrumental in establishing the first medical facilities in Tibet and advocating for women's rights and education.
People
Khyra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Khyra 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
Khyra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Khyra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 433 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Khyra 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 791,580 US residents.
Is Khyra a common name?
We classify Khyra as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 440 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Khyra most popular?
The single biggest year for Khyra was 2006, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Khyra is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Khyra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 344 people with the name Khyra, 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 Khyra 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 Khyra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Khyra appears almost entirely female. Of the 350 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Khyra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Khyra is Black at 62.5%. The next largest groups are White (14.0%) and Hispanic (10.2%). 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 Khyra most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Khyra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.5% (215 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 Khyra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Khyra a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Khyra 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 Khyra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Khyra 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 Khyra 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 Khyra?
See how many Americans are named Khyra on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.