Kira
Meaning
In Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian use, Kira is a feminine form of Cyrus. The older name's meaning is uncertain, with several competing theories.
One Kira, two histories
Russian · The Russian feminine form of Cyrus; the older meaning of Cyrus is uncertain.
Japanese · A Japanese given name written in kana or with kanji chosen for the sound, such as 輝, shine. In this history, the name is usually gender-neutral.
The story
Kira is the Russian feminine of Cyrus, the name of the great king who founded the Persian Empire, and it comes to us with an air of quiet royalty. The older meaning of Cyrus is uncertain, though it has long been linked by some to a word for sun and by others to one for lord, so many hear light and warmth in Kira. The name travels remarkably well: it looks at home in Russian, Japanese, Irish and English at once, which is part of why modern parents love it. It also carries a bright charge from film and animation. In the United States Kira reads as current as ever, strongest around the 2000s. Short, luminous and international, with no obvious nickname because it is already as neat as a name can be, Kira hands a child a king's lineage and a sound that crosses borders without stumbling.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Kira peaked in the 2000s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
714 people · the #10,447 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 250,000 · median age 6
Among people named Kira living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 291 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Kira
Most people given the name Kira in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Kira deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Kira truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Kira fits with your family’s names and surname.
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