Lyra
Lyra was given to 711 girls in 2025, #435 among girls’ names; 8,095 Americans have been recorded with it since 1893 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 7,930 Americans named Lyra and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 7 years old and half are between 3 and 13.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lyra by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Lyra mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Lyra is “a female given name from Ancient Greek.” Its etymology gives the sense “a lyre; the constellation Lyra” (λύρα).
Borrowed from Latin Lyra/lyra, from Ancient Greek λύρα (lúra, “a lyre; the constellation Lyra”). Doublet of lira, lyra, and lyre.
/ˈlaɪ.ɹə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Lyra?
#435 among girls’ names, 2025
Lyra rose from #978 in 2015 to #435 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.15 to 0.44 per 1,000.
711 babies in 2025, the peak
Lyra peaked in 2025, when 711 girls were given it, #435 among girls’ names. In 2024 it went to 642 girls.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 711 | #435 | 0.44 |
| 2024 | 642 | #482 | 0.40 |
| 2023 | 639 | #482 | 0.40 |
| 2022 | 637 | #496 | 0.39 |
| 2021 | 643 | #489 | 0.39 |
| 2020 | 543 | #550 | 0.34 |
| 2019 | 431 | #673 | 0.26 |
| 2018 | 429 | #682 | 0.25 |
| 2017 | 396 | #724 | 0.23 |
| 2016 | 298 | #922 | 0.17 |
Every recorded year (78)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 276 | #978 | 0.15 |
| 2014 | 249 | #1,046 | 0.14 |
| 2013 | 250 | #1,002 | 0.14 |
| 2012 | 247 | #1,028 | 0.14 |
| 2011 | 243 | #1,027 | 0.14 |
| 2010 | 219 | #1,124 | 0.12 |
| 2009 | 234 | #1,089 | 0.13 |
| 2008 | 200 | #1,258 | 0.11 |
| 2007 | 67 | #2,736 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 62 | #2,836 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 50 | #3,148 | 0.03 |
| 2004 | 45 | #3,366 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 26 | #4,884 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 28 | #4,451 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 29 | #4,273 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 19 | #5,840 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 17 | #6,086 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 8 | #10,714 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 14 | #6,681 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 14 | #6,593 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 10 | #8,465 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 12 | #7,306 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 5 | #14,580 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 7 | #10,897 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 9 | #8,449 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 10 | #7,458 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 9 | #7,739 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 8 | #8,174 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 9 | #7,307 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 8 | #7,835 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 8 | #7,737 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 14 | #5,092 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 19 | #4,095 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 20 | #3,935 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 9 | #7,066 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 9 | #6,703 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 12 | #5,393 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 12 | #5,065 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 12 | #5,024 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 16 | #3,959 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 5 | #9,194 | under 0.01 |
| 1972 | 16 | #3,817 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 9 | #5,809 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 8 | #6,118 | under 0.01 |
| 1968 | 7 | #5,985 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,412 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 10 | #4,361 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 9 | #4,747 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 8 | #5,010 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 5 | #6,644 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 7 | #5,116 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 7 | #4,752 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 9 | #3,766 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 5 | #5,781 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 6 | #4,766 | under 0.01 |
| 1932 | 6 | #4,206 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 5 | #4,972 | under 0.01 |
| 1928 | 14 | #2,461 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 6 | #4,607 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,626 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 6 | #4,741 | under 0.01 |
| 1921 | 11 | #3,073 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 9 | #3,357 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 8 | #3,569 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 8 | #3,312 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,452 | 0.01 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,617 | 0.02 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,560 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Lyra a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Lyra has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 78 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Lyra: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lyra, and how old are they?
7,930 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 8,095 Americans ever recorded as Lyra. The median Lyra alive today is 7 years old; half are between 3 and 13.
The 2020 Census counted 4,270 people named Lyra (4,257 women and girls, 13 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,285 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 42 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 140 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 138 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,500 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 6,110 |
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 Lyra born?
The states with the most babies named Lyra are California, New York and Texas, with 24% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 89 | #371 | 0.9× |
| New York | 38 | #458 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 33 | #892 | 0.5× |
| Washington | 33 | #224 | 1.6× |
| Ohio | 29 | #396 | 0.8× |
| Massachusetts | 29 | #194 | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 28 | #395 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 26 | #667 | 0.7× |
| Tennessee | 26 | #304 | 0.8× |
| Colorado | 25 | #261 | 1.4× |
Where Lyra is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Lyra is most over-represented in Oregon: since 1910 it was given 1.9 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 Lyra 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 11,271 babies since 1880, Lyra is the most given (72% of them). In 2025 it was given to 711 of their 1,155 babies (62%), 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 Lyra
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 Lyra and names like it
- Compare Lyra and LioraBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sLyra peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lyra since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Lyra: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Lyra.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Lyra alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with LMost given first.