Head to head · Girls' names
Lakelyn vs Lara
#673 vs #691 in 2025
Lakelyn is a whisker ahead (#673 vs #691 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Lakelyn is climbing the charts fast, Lara is holding its place on the charts.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Lakelyn and Lara each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Lakelyn —, Lara #1147 — Lara higher
- 1890s: Lakelyn —, Lara #1520 — Lara higher
- 1900s: Lakelyn —, Lara #1651 — Lara higher
- 1910s: Lakelyn —, Lara #2235 — Lara higher
- 1920s: Lakelyn —, Lara #2048 — Lara higher
- 1930s: Lakelyn —, Lara #2286 — Lara higher
- 1940s: Lakelyn —, Lara #2829 — Lara higher
- 1950s: Lakelyn —, Lara #2231 — Lara higher
- 1960s: Lakelyn —, Lara #998 — Lara higher
- 1970s: Lakelyn —, Lara #327 — Lara higher
- 1980s: Lakelyn —, Lara #417 — Lara higher
- 1990s: Lakelyn #11110, Lara #725 — Lara higher
- 2000s: Lakelyn #8271, Lara #811 — Lara higher
- 2010s: Lakelyn #2424, Lara #814 — Lara higher
- 2020s: Lakelyn #931, Lara #707 — Lara higher
Lara stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lakelyn | Lara |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #1147 |
| 1890s | — | #1520 |
| 1900s | — | #1651 |
| 1910s | — | #2235 |
| 1920s | — | #2048 |
| 1930s | — | #2286 |
| 1940s | — | #2829 |
| 1950s | — | #2231 |
| 1960s | — | #998 |
| 1970s | — | #327 |
| 1980s | — | #417 |
| 1990s | #11110 | #725 |
| 2000s | #8271 | #811 |
| 2010s | #2424 | #814 |
| 2020s | #931 | #707 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Lakelyn
Not charting outside the US.
Lara
- England & Wales#98
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Lakelyn
Not established — Lakelyn is a recent American formation rather than an inherited name
What is documented are the pieces. The first is the ordinary English word lake. The second is the -lyn ending that English speakers already know from Lynn, Madelyn and Katelyn — and Lynn itself traces back to Welsh llyn, meaning lake or pool. So both halves circle the same body of water, though no one has recorded what the first parents to use Lakelyn intended by it.
How it traveled
Lakelyn is an American-made name, part of a long run of coinages that pair a short English noun with the -lyn ending: Brooklyn, Jaylyn, Ashlyn, Everlyn. That ending arrived by way of the surname Lynn, which goes back to Welsh llyn, a lake or pool, and it has been attached to new first elements by English-speaking parents for well over a century.
Lara
No single settled meaning — most often read as a short form of Larisa, after the Greek city Larissa
Three separate roads meet at this spelling. As a Russian pet form of Larisa, it points back to Larissa in Thessaly, whose own place-name meaning has never been established. In Latin, Lara (also Larunda) is a figure in Ovid's Fasti, connected with the Lares, the household gods of Roman homes. And in Spanish and Portuguese, Lara is a surname from Lara de los Infantes in Burgos, home of the medieval House of Lara. None of the three cancels the others out.
Larissa (Greek city name) → Larisa → Lara
How it traveled
The name's clearest line runs through Russian, where Larisa has long been shortened to Lara in ordinary speech. English-speaking readers met it that way in Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, published in the late 1950s, and then in the film of the following decade, whose theme tune bore her name and was played half to death.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Lakelyn
LAYK-lin
Two syllables, stress on the first. The ending is usually said -lin, sometimes -lynn with a touch more weight. The spelling gives the sound away, which is unusual for a modern coinage.
- Lake — The most natural short form, and a given name in its own right in the US for both boys and girls.
- Lakie — Informal, family-level; used mostly with young children.
- Lynn — Pulled from the ending; a long-established standalone given name still widely held by older generations.
Lara
LAH-rah
The first syllable takes the vowel of "father". Many American speakers say LAIR-ah instead, and both are heard without correction; it helps to say which one you mean the first few times.
- Lala — Affectionate home form, used with small children rather than in writing.
- Larie — Occasional informal extension; rare, and not used as a given name on its own.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Lakelyn if you want…
- a name most people already know#673 in 2025, 421 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 516 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itLakelyn runs 3 syllables, Lara 2
Choose Lara if you want…
- a name fewer children share#691 in 2025 — lara will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name holding steadyLara is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesLara is 2 syllables to Lakelyn's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooLara is on the national lists of England & Wales
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Lakelyn
Strengths
- Reads correctly on first sight for English speakers — the elements lake and -lyn are both already familiar.
- Sits inside a well-known naming pattern, so it is easy for people to hear and place even on first meeting.
- Yields Lake as a clean short form, a name that already stands on its own in the US.
To consider
- The rival spellings are the main friction: Lakelynn, Lakelin and the older Laken all exist, so expect to spell it aloud fairly often, and to correct the double-n version.
- It is a name of the current moment, with no earlier generations carrying it. That makes it fresh now, and it will also mark the decade a child was born in.
- There are no established forms of Lakelyn in other languages, so it travels as an unfamiliar American name outside the US.
Lara
Strengths
- Four letters, one obvious spelling once the sound is known, and no silent letters to dictate over the phone.
- Used unchanged in Italian, Turkish, Croatian, Slovenian, German and Portuguese, so it travels without translation.
- On US records for well over a century, and currently in use in England and Wales too — familiar without being crowded.
To consider
- Two pronunciations circulate in American English — LAH-rah and LAIR-ah — so she will likely spend some of her life gently correcting people, or letting both stand.
- It sits close to Laura, Lauren, Clara and Larissa, and mishearings in that direction are common on introductions and voicemails.
- For a good many adults, the name recalls Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider games as readily as Pasternak's heroine. Neither association is unkind, but both are strong.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Lakelyn
56%chance Lakelyn feels dated by 2040
Lakelyn is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Lara
40%chance Lara feels dated by 2040
Lara sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Lakelyn and Lara in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
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- all guides
Where Lakelyn and Lara each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lakelyn or Lara — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lakelyn or Lara?
- Lakelyn, in 2025: Lakelyn ranked #673 with 421 babies; Lara ranked #691 with 409 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lakelyn or Lara?
- Lakelyn. Over the last five years Lakelyn moved up 516 places; Lara moved up 16 places.
- Which is the older name, Lakelyn or Lara?
- Lakelyn entered the US charts in 1997; Lara entered the US charts in 1887. On the American record, Lara is the older name.
- How many people are named Lakelyn and Lara?
- About 3,000 people named Lakelyn are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 28,500 people named Lara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Lakelyns or Laras in the classroom?
- Lakelyn will almost certainly be the only one in school. Lara will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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