Neyra
A feminine name of Arabic origins meaning "fiery" or "brilliant".
Name Census estimates that about 77 living Americans carry the first name Neyra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Neyra today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Neyra births was 1989 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Neyra. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Neyra. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
77
~ 1 in 4,451,355 Americans
Peak year
1989
10 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2007 SSA rank
#19,705
Tracked since 1973
Census
Neyra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 310 people with the first name Neyra, which placed it at #28,807 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
#28,807
National first-name rank
People counted
310
310 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
92.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Neyra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neyra is Hispanic at 92.3%. The next largest groups are White (3.5%) and Black (3.2%). 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 Neyra 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 Neyra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino92.3% · 286
- White3.5% · 11
- Black or African American3.2% · 10
- Two or more races0.6% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Neyra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Neyra from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 43 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Neyra remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Neyra 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 Neyra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Neyras live
Origin
Meaning and history of Neyra
The name Neyra is of Spanish origin and is derived from the Latin word "nigra," which means "black." It is believed to have originated in the medieval period, possibly as a descriptive name for someone with dark hair or complexion.
Neyra was a relatively uncommon name in Spain during the Middle Ages, but it gained popularity in the 16th and 17th centuries. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name can be found in the birth records of the city of Seville, where a woman named Neyra de Mendoza was born in 1542.
In the realm of literature, the name Neyra appears in several works of Spanish Golden Age writers, such as Miguel de Cervantes and Lope de Vega. Although the characters bearing this name were often minor, their presence in these influential works suggests that the name was in use during that time.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Neyra was Juana Neyra, a Spanish painter who lived in the 17th century. She was known for her religious paintings and was commissioned to create works for several churches in Seville.
Another prominent figure with the name Neyra was María Neyra y Arellano, a Spanish nun who lived in the 18th century. She was renowned for her piety and charitable works, and her biography was published posthumously in 1792.
In the 19th century, Neyra was the name of a famous Spanish bullfighter, Manuel Neyra (1828-1889), who was celebrated for his skill and bravery in the bullring.
During the 20th century, one of the most notable individuals with the name Neyra was Josefa Neyra (1902-1986), a Peruvian politician and women's rights activist. She played a significant role in the struggle for women's suffrage in Peru and held various political positions throughout her career.
Another prominent figure was Neyra Arizmendi (1914-1989), a Colombian writer and journalist who was known for her novels and short stories that explored themes of social injustice and the experiences of marginalized communities.
While not as common as some other Spanish names, Neyra has endured through the centuries, carrying with it a rich cultural and historical legacy.
People
Neyra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Neyra 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
Neyra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Neyra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 77 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Neyra 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 4,451,355 US residents.
Is Neyra a common name?
We classify Neyra as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 80 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Neyra most popular?
The single biggest year for Neyra was 1989, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Neyra is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Neyra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 310 people with the name Neyra, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,807 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 Neyra 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 Neyra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Neyra leans strongly female. 304 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Neyra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neyra is Hispanic at 92.3%. The next largest groups are White (3.5%) and Black (3.2%). 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 Neyra most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Neyra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.3% (286 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 Neyra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Neyra a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Neyra 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 Neyra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Neyra 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 Neyra 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 share the name Neyra?
Want to know how many Americans are named Neyra? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.