Head to head · Girls' names
Lara vs Louisa
#691 vs #694 in 2025 · both holding its place on the charts
Lara is a whisker ahead (#691 vs #694 in 2025) and both are holding its place on the charts. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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: Lara and Louisa 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: Lara #1147, Louisa #152 — Louisa higher
- 1890s: Lara #1520, Louisa #242 — Louisa higher
- 1900s: Lara #1651, Louisa #338 — Louisa higher
- 1910s: Lara #2235, Louisa #439 — Louisa higher
- 1920s: Lara #2048, Louisa #530 — Louisa higher
- 1930s: Lara #2286, Louisa #604 — Louisa higher
- 1940s: Lara #2829, Louisa #686 — Louisa higher
- 1950s: Lara #2231, Louisa #791 — Louisa higher
- 1960s: Lara #998, Louisa #887 — Louisa higher
- 1970s: Lara #327, Louisa #1175 — Lara higher
- 1980s: Lara #417, Louisa #1294 — Lara higher
- 1990s: Lara #725, Louisa #1492 — Lara higher
- 2000s: Lara #811, Louisa #1724 — Lara higher
- 2010s: Lara #814, Louisa #961 — Lara higher
- 2020s: Lara #707, Louisa #744 — Lara higher
Louisa stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Lara has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lara | Louisa |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #1147 | #152 |
| 1890s | #1520 | #242 |
| 1900s | #1651 | #338 |
| 1910s | #2235 | #439 |
| 1920s | #2048 | #530 |
| 1930s | #2286 | #604 |
| 1940s | #2829 | #686 |
| 1950s | #2231 | #791 |
| 1960s | #998 | #887 |
| 1970s | #327 | #1175 |
| 1980s | #417 | #1294 |
| 1990s | #725 | #1492 |
| 2000s | #811 | #1724 |
| 2010s | #814 | #961 |
| 2020s | #707 | #744 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Lara
- England & Wales#98
Louisa
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Louisa
famous in battle
From the Germanic elements hlūd, 'loud, famous', and wīg, 'war, battle' — the same pair that gives Louis and Ludwig.
Hlodwig → Chlodovechus (Clovis) → Ludovicus → Louis / Louise → Louisa
How it traveled
The root is Frankish: Hlodwig, the name of the king the Latin writers called Chlodovechus and the French later called Clovis, who ruled the Franks around the turn of the sixth century. Latinized as Ludovicus, it became Louis in French and was carried by eighteen French kings, which kept it in constant use for a thousand years.
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
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.
Louisa
loo-EE-zuh
The middle syllable takes the stress. Some families say loo-EE-suh with a clean s, closer to the Spanish and Italian Luisa; both are long-established and neither is a correction of the other.
- Lou — The oldest and plainest short form, shared with Louise, Lucy and Louis; also used on its own.
- Lulu — Informal and affectionate; stands alone as a given name in French and English records.
- Weezy — A household nickname rather than a written one, formed from the middle of the name.
- Isa — Taken from the tail of the name; more common where Luisa is the spelling.
- Also Ouisa.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Lara if you want…
- a name holding steadyLara is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesLara is 2 syllables to Louisa's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooLara is on the national lists of England & Wales
- a newer arrivalLara entered the US charts in 1887
Choose Louisa if you want…
- a name on the way upup 31 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itLouisa runs 3 syllables, Lara 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Lou, Lulu and Weezy
- a long American recordLouisa was already in use when US records began in 1880
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
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.
Louisa
Strengths
- Recognized across French, Spanish, Italian, German and Portuguese in barely altered forms — a name that survives border crossings intact.
- Several short forms already in circulation: Lou, Lulu, Isa. None of them need explaining.
- A documented line running back to the early Frankish kings, unbroken through French, German and English use.
To consider
- Louisa and Louise will be confused for each other constantly — on forms, in emails, by people who have met one and are guessing at the other. Most Louisas make peace with correcting it.
- The spelling competes with Luisa, Louiza and Luiza, all in real use. Expect to spell it aloud, though the O-U opening is the one most Americans reach for first.
- The s can be voiced or unvoiced, so you will hear both loo-EE-za and loo-EE-sa. Deciding early which one your family uses saves some low-level friction later.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Lara and Louisa in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Lara and Louisa?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
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- all guides
Where Lara and Louisa each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lara or Louisa — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lara or Louisa?
- Lara, in 2025: Lara ranked #691 with 409 babies; Louisa ranked #694 with 407 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lara or Louisa?
- Louisa. Over the last five years Lara moved up 16 places; Louisa moved up 31 places.
- Which is the older name, Lara or Louisa?
- Lara entered the US charts in 1887; Louisa was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Louisa is the older name.
- How many people are named Lara and Louisa?
- About 28,500 people named Lara are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 13,000 people named Louisa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Laras or Louisas in the classroom?
- Lara will almost certainly be the only one in school. Louisa 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
Keep playing
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