Lara

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 24 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Lara is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name1.3M records spelled Lara83 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, Australia, Germany

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written LaRae, Laera, La'Rae, La-Rae, Lára

• French given name94K records spelled Lara4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Belgium, Spain

  Also written Ĺara, Làrà, L'Ara

• a separate given name67K records spelled Lara7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Lāra, Lārā, Lára, Lāṛa, Lará

• Croatian given name46K records spelled Lara29 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Croatia, Russia, Ukraine, North Macedonia

  Languages: Croatian, Russian, Ukrainian

  Also written Лара, Lára, Lãrã, Lârâ, Laragh

• Icelandic given name14K records spelled Lara9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Iceland, Denmark, Norway, United States

  Languages: Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål

  Also written Lára, Lãrã, Làra

• Indonesian given name14K records spelled Lara4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, United States, Italy

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Lãrä, Lãřã

85 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Lara is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Spanish, habitational name from a place named Lara de los Infantes in Burgos province.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, Person from Lara de los Infantes, in Burgos province, Spain.

  as a name·Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]

• In Swedish, Lara kan vara av ryskt ursprung, en kortform till → Larissa eller → Laura. Genom en gestalt i boken Doktor Zjivago, av Boris Pasternak 1957 (och filmatiserad 1965), började namnet användas i stora delar av Europa och Nordamerika. Datorspelet och filmerna Tomb Raider med Lara Croft som huvudperson (från 2001) har gjort namnet ännu mer populärt. Lara används även i Mellanöstern.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In English, I. mother of the Lares by Mercury

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In French, Origine grecque, signifie « mouette ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 129 years between 1887–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Lara Fabianb. 1970BEBelgian and Canadian singer and songwriter
• Lara Flynn Boyleb. 1970USAmerican actress (born 1970)
• Lara Griceb. 1971USAmerican actress
• Lara Duttab. 1978INIndian actress (born 1978)
• Sophie Winklemanb. 1980GBnot in their usual nameBritish actress; wife of Lord Frederick Windsor
• Lara Pulverb. 1980GBEnglish actress (born 1980)
• Lara Trumpb. 1982USAmerican television producer and campaign adviser (born 1982)
• Lara Jean Chorosteckib. 1984CACanadian actress
• Lara Gut-Behramib. 1991CHSwiss alpine skier
• Lara Robinsonb. 1998AUAustralian actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,634 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Lara?

We estimate roughly 375 thousand people bear Lara (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Lara have the most bearers?

We estimate about 281 thousand people bear Lara in Brazil, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled lara.

Where is Lara most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Lara is densest in Iceland — about 1 in 247 people — even though Brazil holds more of our records for it.

How common is Lara compared with other names?

In Brazil, Lara is the 205th most common given name of 536,280 given names recorded there.

Is Lara a male or female name?

Lara is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Lara mean?

Recorded meaning: Modern given name used in several languages; from Latin Lara, a mythological name, or as short form of Laura.