Nayara
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Meaning
“Spanish and Portuguese form of Naiara, the Basque name of the city of Nájera (Arabic in origin), where a 12th-century Marian apparition was reported”
The story
Nayara is the Spanish and Portuguese form of Naiara, and Naiara is the Basque name of the Spanish city of Nájera, a place name Arabic in origin, where, Behind the Name notes, a 12th-century apparition of the Virgin Mary was reported in a nearby cave. The name's recorded numbers are Brazilian: the census counts about 65,600 Nayaras with a median age of 26, and about 65 percent of them were born in the 1980s and 1990s. The published American record carries no Nayara line of its own. A city with an Arabic name, a cave, a reported apparition, and a census whose two biggest Nayara decades sit side by side in late twentieth-century Brazil: the whole chain, centuries of it, carried in three syllables.
How popular is Nayara around the world?
In the United States, Nayara is on the Social Security birth record for 2020 to 2025. In Puerto Rico, 11 babies were named Nayara in 2025, and 40 have carried the name since 1998.
Nayara is on the official records of the United States, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Montevideo, Chile and England and Wales.
United States
on record
In the United States, Nayara is on the Social Security birth record for 2020 to 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Nayara has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Puerto Rico
1 in 1,600
In Puerto Rico, 11 babies were named Nayara in 2025, and 40 have carried the name since 1998.
share of that year’s births on record
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
Brazil
1 in 3,100
At the 2022 census, 65,629 people in Brazil were named Nayara, the 465th most common name, with a median age of 26.
Among people named Nayara living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 1,045 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Spain
1 in 4,500
In Spain, 10,067 residents are named Nayara, the 277th most common name among women, with a mean age of 15.8 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Argentina
1 in 21,000
In Argentina, 31 newborns were given the name Nayara in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Montevideo City
1 in 25,000 · 2011
In Montevideo, 1 girl named Nayara was born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Chile
1 in 36,000
In Chile, 5 girls were registered as Nayara in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
England and Wales
1 in 84,000
In England and Wales, 7 girls named Nayara were born in 2025, ranked 3,333rd among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Mexico City City
last on record 2021
Nayara is not on the 2022 record for Mexico City, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Not on the record in Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Scotland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the South Australia record for 1944 to 2017: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years.
Keep exploring
The Nayara deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Nayara 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 Nayara fits with your family’s names and surname.
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