Neera
A feminine name derived from Sanskrit meaning "pure, bright, cloudless".
Name Census estimates that about 151 living Americans carry the first name Neera. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Neera today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Neera births was 2021 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Neera. 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 Neera with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
151
~ 1 in 2,269,896 Americans
Peak year
2021
16 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,815
Tracked since 1974
Census
Neera in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 530 people with the first name Neera, which placed it at #19,787 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
#19,787
National first-name rank
People counted
530
530 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
82.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Neera
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neera is Asian/Pacific Islander at 82.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.3%) and White (4.7%). 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 Neera 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 Neera at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander82.8% · 439
- Two or more races5.3% · 28
- White4.7% · 25
- Black or African American4.0% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Neera: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Neera from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 55 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Neera 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 Neera 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 Neera
The name Neera is a Sanskrit name of Indian origin, with roots dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "nir," meaning "pure" or "unblemished," and is often associated with concepts of purity, clarity, and virtue.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Neera can be found in the ancient Hindu scripture, the Mahabharata, where it is mentioned as the name of a character. The Mahabharata is an epic narrative that dates back to around the 8th or 9th century BCE, highlighting the antiquity of this name.
In the historical context, one notable figure who bore the name Neera was Neera Desai, an Indian social worker and activist born in 1925. She played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and worked tirelessly for the empowerment of women and underprivileged communities.
Another prominent individual with this name was Neera Tanden, an American political consultant and former advisor to the Obama administration, born in 1970. She served as the president of the Center for American Progress, a prominent progressive public policy research and advocacy organization.
Neera Bhushan, an Indian classical vocalist and Padma Shri recipient born in 1933, is also a notable figure associated with this name. She is widely acclaimed for her contributions to Hindustani classical music and has performed extensively both in India and abroad.
Neera Kapur-Dromson, born in 1944, is another noteworthy individual with this name. She is an Indian-British writer and academic, known for her literary works that explore themes of identity, culture, and the experiences of the South Asian diaspora.
In the realm of literature, the name Neera has been used by several authors, such as the Italian writer Neera (pseudonym of Anna Radius Zuccari, 1846-1918), who wrote novels and short stories that explored the societal constraints and struggles faced by women in 19th-century Italy.
People
Neera + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Neera 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
Neera: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Neera?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 151 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Neera 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 2,269,896 US residents.
Is Neera a common name?
We classify Neera as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 154 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Neera most popular?
The single biggest year for Neera was 2021, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Neera is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Neera in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 530 people with the name Neera, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,787 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 Neera 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 Neera?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Neera appears almost entirely female. Of the 531 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Neera?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neera is Asian/Pacific Islander at 82.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.3%) and White (4.7%). 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 Neera most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Neera in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.8% (439 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 Neera in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Neera a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Neera 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 Neera still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Neera 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 Neera 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 Neera?
Find out how many Americans are named Neera on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.