Mara
Mara was given to 499 girls in 2025, #589 among girls’ names; 24,054 Americans have been recorded with it since 1892 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 22,700 Americans named Mara and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 28 years old and half are between 13 and 46.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Mara by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Mara mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Mara is “a female given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the senses “bitterness” (מָרָא) and “bitter” (מַר).
From Hebrew מָרָא (mara, “bitterness”), derived from Hebrew מַר (mar, “bitter”). The modern given name may also be shortened from Maria or Tamara.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Mara?
#589 among girls’ names, 2025
Mara rose from #737 in 2015 to #589 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.21 to 0.31 per 1,000.
568 babies in 2021, the peak
Mara peaked in 2021, when 568 girls were given it, #540 among girls’ names. The 499 births of 2025 are 88% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 499 | #589 | 0.31 |
| 2024 | 515 | #589 | 0.32 |
| 2023 | 516 | #581 | 0.32 |
| 2022 | 478 | #620 | 0.29 |
| 2021 | 568 | #540 | 0.35 |
| 2020 | 463 | #628 | 0.29 |
| 2019 | 439 | #663 | 0.26 |
| 2018 | 432 | #676 | 0.25 |
| 2017 | 440 | #668 | 0.25 |
| 2016 | 427 | #686 | 0.24 |
Every recorded year (115)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 383 | #737 | 0.21 |
| 2014 | 409 | #694 | 0.23 |
| 2013 | 366 | #742 | 0.21 |
| 2012 | 336 | #798 | 0.19 |
| 2011 | 312 | #846 | 0.18 |
| 2010 | 308 | #868 | 0.17 |
| 2009 | 377 | #754 | 0.21 |
| 2008 | 355 | #811 | 0.19 |
| 2007 | 389 | #752 | 0.20 |
| 2006 | 415 | #683 | 0.22 |
| 2005 | 415 | #672 | 0.22 |
| 2004 | 427 | #642 | 0.23 |
| 2003 | 417 | #639 | 0.23 |
| 2002 | 420 | #608 | 0.23 |
| 2001 | 405 | #622 | 0.22 |
| 2000 | 418 | #606 | 0.23 |
| 1999 | 363 | #645 | 0.20 |
| 1998 | 411 | #590 | 0.23 |
| 1997 | 412 | #568 | 0.24 |
| 1996 | 393 | #584 | 0.22 |
| 1995 | 350 | #625 | 0.20 |
| 1994 | 370 | #606 | 0.21 |
| 1993 | 376 | #610 | 0.21 |
| 1992 | 371 | #614 | 0.20 |
| 1991 | 400 | #578 | 0.21 |
| 1990 | 443 | #537 | 0.23 |
| 1989 | 410 | #554 | 0.22 |
| 1988 | 331 | #605 | 0.19 |
| 1987 | 269 | #688 | 0.15 |
| 1986 | 204 | #824 | 0.12 |
| 1985 | 203 | #812 | 0.12 |
| 1984 | 230 | #719 | 0.14 |
| 1983 | 241 | #709 | 0.14 |
| 1982 | 239 | #726 | 0.14 |
| 1981 | 237 | #708 | 0.14 |
| 1980 | 259 | #674 | 0.16 |
| 1979 | 242 | #700 | 0.15 |
| 1978 | 273 | #621 | 0.18 |
| 1977 | 236 | #668 | 0.15 |
| 1976 | 285 | #574 | 0.19 |
| 1975 | 237 | #647 | 0.16 |
| 1974 | 227 | #666 | 0.15 |
| 1973 | 242 | #627 | 0.17 |
| 1972 | 270 | #594 | 0.18 |
| 1971 | 267 | #626 | 0.16 |
| 1970 | 286 | #607 | 0.16 |
| 1969 | 258 | #619 | 0.15 |
| 1968 | 221 | #654 | 0.13 |
| 1967 | 226 | #639 | 0.14 |
| 1966 | 185 | #726 | 0.11 |
| 1965 | 193 | #709 | 0.11 |
| 1964 | 179 | #773 | 0.09 |
| 1963 | 171 | #794 | 0.09 |
| 1962 | 168 | #810 | 0.09 |
| 1961 | 187 | #766 | 0.09 |
| 1960 | 152 | #841 | 0.08 |
| 1959 | 139 | #880 | 0.07 |
| 1958 | 170 | #767 | 0.08 |
| 1957 | 150 | #828 | 0.07 |
| 1956 | 180 | #717 | 0.09 |
| 1955 | 163 | #743 | 0.08 |
| 1954 | 176 | #700 | 0.09 |
| 1953 | 113 | #891 | 0.06 |
| 1952 | 126 | #808 | 0.07 |
| 1951 | 106 | #873 | 0.06 |
| 1950 | 94 | #920 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 53 | #1,256 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 38 | #1,509 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 51 | #1,278 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 31 | #1,608 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 33 | #1,407 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 27 | #1,591 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 29 | #1,573 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 23 | #1,787 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 23 | #1,679 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 19 | #1,874 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 24 | #1,572 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 8 | #3,347 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 13 | #2,396 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 22 | #1,624 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 20 | #1,752 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,668 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 12 | #2,492 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 12 | #2,586 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,905 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,504 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,521 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 15 | #2,341 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 13 | #2,643 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 16 | #2,315 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 18 | #2,159 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 15 | #2,471 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 10 | #3,264 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 8 | #3,877 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 15 | #2,451 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 7 | #4,237 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 10 | #3,130 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 13 | #2,613 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 12 | #2,645 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,777 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 7 | #3,655 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,974 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 5 | #3,258 | 0.01 |
| 1911 | 8 | #1,886 | 0.02 |
| 1892 | 6 | #1,384 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Mara a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Mara has been given almost only to girls: 16 boys in 115 years of records.
Girls and boys named Mara: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Mara, and how old are they?
22,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 24,054 Americans ever recorded as Mara. The median Mara alive today is 28 years old; half are between 13 and 46.
The 2020 Census counted 24,761 people named Mara (24,642 women and girls, 119 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 20,104 born in the U.S. The Census count is 23% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 114 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,960 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,630 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 4,950 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 6,110 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5,900 |
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 Mara born?
The states with the most babies named Mara are California, Ohio and Minnesota, with 27% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Minnesota is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 57 | #571 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 34 | #330 | 1.3× |
| Minnesota | 30 | #182 | 2.5× |
| Illinois | 30 | #348 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 29 | #310 | 1.3× |
| New York | 28 | #602 | 1.3× |
| Texas | 26 | #1,082 | 0.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 25 | #437 | 1.2× |
| Florida | 18 | #904 | 0.6× |
| Wisconsin | 14 | #381 | 1.8× |
Where Mara is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Mara is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1910 it was given 2.5 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 Mara 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 5,478,822 babies since 1880, Mara is the sixth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 499 of their 7,137 babies (7.0%), the fourth most given that year.
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 Mara
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 Mara and names like it
- Compare Mara and MaryBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sMara peaked in 2021.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Mara since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Mara: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2021The year the most babies were named Mara.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Mara alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with MMost given first.