Lara
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "little rock" or "shining one".
Name Census estimates that about 27,260 living Americans carry the first name Lara. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lara today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lara births was 1969 (1,360 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lara. 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 Lara with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
27K
~ 1 in 12,574 Americans
Peak year
1969
1,360 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
1990 SSA rank
#740
Tracked since 1887
Census
Lara in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 28,720 people with the first name Lara, which placed it at #1,286 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
#1,286
National first-name rank
People counted
29K
28,720 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lara
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lara is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%). 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 Lara 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 Lara at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.0% · 23,274
- Hispanic or Latino8.7% · 2,492
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 1,142
- Two or more races3.9% · 1,132
- Black or African American2.0% · 587
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 93
Gender
Gender distribution for Lara
Out of the 29,789 babies given the name Lara since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Lara as a male name
- Ranked #7,705 in 1990
- 6 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1967 (6 births)
Lara as a female name
- Ranked #740 in 2024
- 379 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1969 (1,354 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lara appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,726 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lara: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lara from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 7,617 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lara 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 Lara during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Laras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Lara, while South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 522 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lara
The name Lara has its origins in the Latin language, derived from the word "larus," meaning "seagull" or "sea bird." It is believed to have originated in ancient Rome, where it was initially used as a surname or family name.
During the Middle Ages, the name Lara gained popularity in various regions of Europe, particularly in Spain and Italy. In Spain, it was associated with the noble family of the Lara, who held significant power and influence during the 11th and 12th centuries. The name was also found in Italian literature, such as the epic poem "La Gerusalemme Liberata" by Torquato Tasso, where it was used for a female character.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lara can be found in the epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid," written in the 12th century. The poem recounts the story of the Spanish hero El Cid and mentions a character named Lara Núñez, who was a nobleman and ally of El Cid.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Lara. One of the most famous was Lara Antipater, a Greek philosopher and founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, who lived in the 3rd century BC. Another prominent figure was Lara of Noricum, a Roman empress and wife of the Emperor Constantius III, who ruled in the 5th century AD.
In the realm of literature, the name Lara is associated with the famous Russian poet and novelist Boris Pasternak, who wrote the novel "Doctor Zhivago." In the novel, Lara is the name of one of the main characters, a woman caught up in the turmoil of the Russian Revolution.
Other notable individuals named Lara include Lara Croft, the fictional archaeologist and protagonist of the "Tomb Raider" video game series; Lara Flynn Boyle, an American actress born in 1970; Lara Dutta, an Indian actress and former Miss Universe winner born in 1978; and Lara Fabian, a Belgian-Canadian singer born in 1970.
Overall, the name Lara has a rich history, spanning various cultures and time periods, and has been borne by individuals from diverse backgrounds, including philosophers, rulers, writers, and entertainers.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Lara
People
Lara + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lara as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lara: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lara?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 27,260 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lara 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 12,574 US residents.
Is Lara a common name?
We classify Lara as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 29,789 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lara most popular?
The single biggest year for Lara was 1969, when 1,360 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lara is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lara in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 28,720 people with the name Lara, or 9.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,286 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 Lara 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 Lara?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lara appears almost entirely female. Of the 28,726 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Lara?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lara is White at 81.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%). 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 Lara most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lara in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.0% (23,274 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 Lara in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lara a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Lara 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 Lara still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lara 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 Lara 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 Lara?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.