Kara
Kara was the 1075th most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 226 babies. Its best year was 1984, when it ranked 95th; the most babies were born in 1991 (3,281). Over the last ten years it has moved down 568 places. More babies were named Kara in the 1980s than in any other decade.
Meaning variant of Cara ('dear') · Italian, Latin, Irish
Say it KAIR-uh /ˈkɛɹə/
- Rank in 2025
- #1,075 girls, down 403 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 226girls
- Girls and boys
- Almost always a girl’s name2021–2025
- Peak year
- 19913,281 babies
- Total since 1880
- 102,025babies recorded
What does the name Kara mean?
Kara is listed by Wiktionary as a variant of Cara. Cara is the Italian and Latin word for 'dear, beloved' (feminine of caro), and is also the Irish word cara 'friend'. Kara is separately a Turkish word meaning 'black' and occurs in Turkic names, and it appears in other languages too. In the US it became common in the 1970s and 1980s.
cara (Italian / Latin, “dear, beloved”)cara (Irish, “friend”)
How sure is this? Probable.
Related names: Cara, Karah, Carina.
See also: Latin names, names that mean love.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Kara', Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- Wiktionary, entry 'Cara', Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- US Social Security Administration, national baby-name data 1880-2025 (our computation), SSA (public domain)
Kara popularity since 1880
A few boys are given the name too: 282 since 1915.
| Year | Rank (girls) | Babies (girls) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #1,075 | 226 |
| 2020 | #672 | 427 |
| 2010 | #292 | 1,113 |
| 2000 | #192 | 1,649 |
| 1990 | #110 | 3,036 |
| 1980 | #127 | 2,445 |
| 1970 | #209 | 1,503 |
| 1960 | #910 | 135 |
| 1950 | #1,664 | 32 |
| 1940 | #2,492 | 12 |
| 1930 | — | — |
| 1920 | — | — |
| 1910 | — | — |
| 1900 | — | — |
| 1890 | — | — |
| 1880 | — | — |
How popular is Kara, counting every spelling?
Kara is the most common spelling of a name family that ranked #702 for girls in 2025 once every spelling is counted together, compared with #1,075 for Kara on its own. Together these spellings went to 407 girls in 2025.
| Spelling | Babies 2025 | Official rank | Babies 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kara | 226 | #1,075 | 1,462 |
| Cara | 168 | #1,326 | 984 |
| Kera | 8 | #11,430 | 47 |
| Karah | — | — | 45 |
Spellings count together when they sound the same in American English and are used for the same sex; nicknames and forms that sound different (such as Theo and Theodore) are kept apart. How we group spellings.
How many kids will share the name Kara?
226 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Kara (0.06 per 1,000 births). For a girl named Kara born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 37 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Kara.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Kara?
About 97,900 people born in the US named Kara are alive today, with a median age of 38; half are between 28 and 47. That makes Kara mostly worn by adults in their thirties to fifties.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Kara by state
How common Kara was among girls born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in Indiana (2.5×), Ohio (2.3×), Kentucky (1.6×), Missouri (1.5×). In 18 states fewer than five girls a year got the name, too few for SSA to publish, so those states show as zero.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Kara: their share of US girls followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Kara, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Kara · Sibling names for Kara
Questions about the name Kara
What does Kara mean?
Kara means “variant of Cara ('dear')” (Italian, Latin, Irish origin). Certainty: probable.
How popular is the name Kara?
Kara was the 1075th most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 226 babies. Its best year was 1984, when it ranked 95th; the most babies were born in 1991 (3,281). Over the last ten years it has moved down 568 places. More babies were named Kara in the 1980s than in any other decade.
Is Kara a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, almost always a girl’s name given the name Kara in the US.
Where is Kara most popular?
In 2021–2025, Kara was most common in Indiana (0.44 per 1,000 girls), followed by Ohio and Montana.