Dara
Dara is given to both girls and boys: 207 girls and 48 boys were given it in 2025 (#1,129 among girls’ names and #2,686 among boys’, #1,889 among all names counting both); 14,547 Americans have been recorded with it since 1893 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 13,500 Americans named Dara and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 42 years old and half are between 26 and 53.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dara by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dara mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dara is “a female given name from Irish.”
Also “a male given name from Irish.”
An Irish saint’s name, from Irish Dáire.
/ˈdɑːɹə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dara?
#1,129 among girls’ names, 2025
Dara rose from #2,721 in 2015 to #1,129 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.04 to 0.13 per 1,000.
466 babies in 1981, the peak
Dara peaked in 1981, when 466 babies were given it (453 girls, #469 among girls’ names). The 255 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 55% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 207 | #1,129 | 0.13 |
| 2024 | 244 | #1,034 | 0.15 |
| 2023 | 107 | #1,868 | 0.07 |
| 2022 | 148 | #1,480 | 0.09 |
| 2021 | 132 | #1,587 | 0.08 |
| 2020 | 166 | #1,329 | 0.10 |
| 2019 | 227 | #1,094 | 0.14 |
| 2018 | 206 | #1,171 | 0.12 |
| 2017 | 110 | #1,854 | 0.06 |
| 2016 | 71 | #2,523 | 0.04 |
Every recorded year (113)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 65 | #2,721 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 74 | #2,448 | 0.04 |
| 2013 | 67 | #2,636 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 74 | #2,480 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 52 | #3,181 | 0.03 |
| 2010 | 77 | #2,434 | 0.04 |
| 2009 | 92 | #2,169 | 0.05 |
| 2008 | 83 | #2,340 | 0.04 |
| 2007 | 81 | #2,353 | 0.04 |
| 2006 | 81 | #2,331 | 0.04 |
| 2005 | 97 | #1,970 | 0.05 |
| 2004 | 109 | #1,758 | 0.06 |
| 2003 | 115 | #1,668 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 112 | #1,645 | 0.06 |
| 2001 | 155 | #1,267 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 153 | #1,269 | 0.08 |
| 1999 | 143 | #1,284 | 0.08 |
| 1998 | 162 | #1,160 | 0.09 |
| 1997 | 145 | #1,233 | 0.08 |
| 1996 | 152 | #1,189 | 0.09 |
| 1995 | 163 | #1,089 | 0.09 |
| 1994 | 171 | #1,060 | 0.10 |
| 1993 | 198 | #953 | 0.11 |
| 1992 | 220 | #893 | 0.12 |
| 1991 | 235 | #848 | 0.13 |
| 1990 | 219 | #882 | 0.12 |
| 1989 | 240 | #792 | 0.13 |
| 1988 | 240 | #784 | 0.13 |
| 1987 | 239 | #750 | 0.14 |
| 1986 | 228 | #759 | 0.13 |
| 1985 | 222 | #767 | 0.13 |
| 1984 | 277 | #636 | 0.16 |
| 1983 | 254 | #675 | 0.15 |
| 1982 | 321 | #572 | 0.19 |
| 1981 | 453 | #469 | 0.27 |
| 1980 | 431 | #486 | 0.26 |
| 1979 | 264 | #662 | 0.16 |
| 1978 | 285 | #598 | 0.19 |
| 1977 | 267 | #628 | 0.17 |
| 1976 | 254 | #616 | 0.17 |
| 1975 | 221 | #678 | 0.15 |
| 1974 | 254 | #612 | 0.17 |
| 1973 | 271 | #582 | 0.19 |
| 1972 | 248 | #626 | 0.16 |
| 1971 | 307 | #572 | 0.18 |
| 1970 | 279 | #617 | 0.16 |
| 1969 | 310 | #562 | 0.18 |
| 1968 | 233 | #632 | 0.14 |
| 1967 | 187 | #714 | 0.11 |
| 1966 | 194 | #703 | 0.11 |
| 1965 | 149 | #817 | 0.08 |
| 1964 | 158 | #833 | 0.08 |
| 1963 | 176 | #780 | 0.09 |
| 1962 | 151 | #861 | 0.08 |
| 1961 | 150 | #872 | 0.07 |
| 1960 | 132 | #927 | 0.07 |
| 1959 | 166 | #791 | 0.08 |
| 1958 | 130 | #897 | 0.06 |
| 1957 | 118 | #947 | 0.06 |
| 1956 | 132 | #869 | 0.07 |
| 1955 | 61 | #1,293 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 85 | #1,065 | 0.04 |
| 1953 | 76 | #1,113 | 0.04 |
| 1952 | 77 | #1,075 | 0.04 |
| 1951 | 69 | #1,118 | 0.04 |
| 1950 | 57 | #1,224 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 51 | #1,279 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 24 | #1,961 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 53 | #1,241 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 30 | #1,627 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 18 | #2,002 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 7 | #3,766 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 8 | #3,560 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 9 | #3,229 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 5 | #4,538 | under 0.01 |
| 1940 | 7 | #3,573 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 11 | #2,623 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 7 | #3,518 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 5 | #4,320 | under 0.01 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,725 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 5 | #4,545 | under 0.01 |
| 1930 | 8 | #3,407 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 9 | #3,226 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 7 | #3,935 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 7 | #3,960 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 8 | #3,751 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 7 | #4,087 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 14 | #2,498 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 9 | #3,433 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 16 | #2,309 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 8 | #3,685 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 7 | #3,917 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 5 | #4,990 | under 0.01 |
| 1917 | 8 | #3,413 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,625 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,876 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,279 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,287 | 0.01 |
| 1911 | 5 | #2,557 | 0.01 |
| 1910 | 5 | #2,498 | 0.01 |
| 1909 | 5 | #2,283 | 0.01 |
| 1905 | 6 | #1,754 | 0.02 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,481 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Dara a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 14,547 Americans recorded as Dara, 94% are girls and 6% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Dara: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dara, and how old are they?
13,500 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 14,547 Americans ever recorded as Dara. The median Dara alive today is 42 years old; half are between 26 and 53.
The 2020 Census counted 13,148 people named Dara (11,994 women and girls, 1,154 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 12,605 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 39 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,550 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,900 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 4,030 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,890 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,100 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Dara born?
The states with the most babies named Dara are California, New York and Texas, with 41% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,575 | #955 | 0.9× |
| New York | 1,574 | #799 | 1.5× |
| Texas | 884 | #1,129 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 753 | #1,442 | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 725 | #628 | 1.7× |
| Florida | 622 | #922 | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 381 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 342 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| North Carolina | 312 | #919 | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 267 | #1,416 | 0.7× |
Where Dara is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dara is most over-represented in New Jersey: since 1910 it was given 1.7 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Dara with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 30,516 babies since 1880, Dara is the most given (48% of them). In 2025 it was given to 255 of their 538 babies (47%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Dara
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Dara and names like it
- Compare Dara and DariaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sDara peaked in 1981.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dara since 1910.
- Irish namesWiktionary’s origin for Dara: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1981The year the most babies were named Dara.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Dara alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with DMost given first.