Nakira
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "innocent" or "blameless".
Name Census estimates that about 410 living Americans carry the first name Nakira. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nakira today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nakira births was 2005 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nakira. 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.
People living today
410
~ 1 in 835,986 Americans
Peak year
2005
32 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2019 SSA rank
#11,105
Tracked since 1982
Census
Nakira in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 355 people with the first name Nakira, which placed it at #26,287 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
#26,287
National first-name rank
People counted
355
355 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nakira
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nakira is Black at 83.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.0%) and White (4.5%). 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 Nakira 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 Nakira at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.9% · 298
- Two or more races7.0% · 25
- White4.5% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 2
Popularity
Nakira: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nakira from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 217 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Nakira remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nakira 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 Nakira during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nakiras live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nakira
The name Nakira is a unique and intriguing moniker with roots that can be traced back to ancient civilizations. Its origins are believed to lie in the Sumerian language, one of the earliest known written languages, which flourished in Mesopotamia around 3500 BC. The name Nakira is thought to be derived from the Sumerian words "naki" meaning "pure" and "ra" meaning "sun," potentially signifying "pure as the sun."
In the realm of historical records, the earliest known reference to the name Nakira can be found in cuneiform inscriptions on clay tablets from the ancient city of Ur, located in present-day Iraq. These inscriptions, dating back to the 3rd millennium BC, suggest that the name was in use during the Sumerian civilization.
Over the centuries, the name Nakira has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest recorded figures with this name was Nakira, a high priestess who served in the temple of the moon god Sin in the city of Ur during the reign of King Shulgi of the Third Dynasty of Ur, around 2100 BC. Her name was documented in cuneiform inscriptions, attesting to her importance in the religious and cultural life of that era.
Another historical figure bearing the name Nakira was a prominent scribe and scholar who lived during the Akkadian Empire, around 2350 BC. His works included translations of ancient Sumerian texts and treatises on various subjects, including astronomy and mathematics. His contributions to preserving and disseminating knowledge from the Sumerian civilization were significant.
In more recent times, the name Nakira has been carried by several notable individuals as well. One such figure was Nakira al-Qurayshi, a 9th-century Arab mathematician and astronomer from Baghdad. She made significant contributions to the field of mathematics, particularly in the development of algebraic concepts and the study of geometric progressions.
Another notable bearer of the name was Nakira Khanum, a 16th-century Persian princess and poet who was renowned for her literary works and patronage of the arts. Her poetry, which often celebrated love and the beauty of nature, continues to be studied and admired by scholars and literary enthusiasts.
Lastly, Nakira Trubetzkoy, a 20th-century Russian-American anthropologist and linguist, made significant contributions to the study of Native American languages and cultures. Born in 1897, she conducted extensive fieldwork among various indigenous communities, documenting their languages, oral traditions, and cultural practices.
While the name Nakira may not be as prevalent today as it once was, its rich historical roots and associations with figures from diverse cultures and time periods make it a truly captivating and meaningful moniker, carrying echoes of ancient civilizations and their legacies.
People
Nakira + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nakira as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nakira: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nakira?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 410 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nakira 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 835,986 US residents.
Is Nakira a common name?
We classify Nakira as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 418 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nakira most popular?
The single biggest year for Nakira was 2005, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nakira 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 Nakira in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 355 people with the name Nakira, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,287 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 Nakira 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 Nakira?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nakira appears almost entirely female. Of the 357 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 Nakira?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nakira is Black at 83.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.0%) and White (4.5%). 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 Nakira most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nakira in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.9% (298 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 Nakira in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nakira a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nakira 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 Nakira still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nakira 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 Nakira 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 have the name Nakira?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.