Head to head · Girls' names
Lyra vs Salem
#435 vs #435 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Lyra and Salem share the same spot on the 2025 charts (#435). The records cannot split them; sound and story 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: Lyra and Salem each lead 2 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
- 1890s: Lyra #1461, Salem — — Lyra higher
- 1910s: Lyra #3221, Salem — — Lyra higher
- 1920s: Lyra #3658, Salem — — Lyra higher
- 1930s: Lyra #4226, Salem — — Lyra higher
- 1940s: Lyra #4435, Salem — — Lyra higher
- 1950s: Lyra #5141, Salem — — Lyra higher
- 1960s: Lyra #5191, Salem — — Lyra higher
- 1970s: Lyra #5541, Salem #6662 — Lyra higher
- 1980s: Lyra #6472, Salem #6821 — Lyra higher
- 1990s: Lyra #8440, Salem #5473 — Salem higher
- 2000s: Lyra #3343, Salem #2948 — Salem higher
- 2010s: Lyra #919, Salem #1684 — Lyra higher
- 2020s: Lyra #489, Salem #474 — Salem higher
Lyra stood higher in 10 of 13 decades; Salem took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Lyra | Salem |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #1461 | — |
| 1910s | #3221 | — |
| 1920s | #3658 | — |
| 1930s | #4226 | — |
| 1940s | #4435 | — |
| 1950s | #5141 | — |
| 1960s | #5191 | — |
| 1970s | #5541 | #6662 |
| 1980s | #6472 | #6821 |
| 1990s | #8440 | #5473 |
| 2000s | #3343 | #2948 |
| 2010s | #919 | #1684 |
| 2020s | #489 | #474 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Lyra
- England & Wales#83
Salem
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
Lyra
lyre — the stringed instrument, and the constellation named for it
From Greek λύρα, borrowed into Latin. In Greek myth the lyre set among the stars is the one played by Orpheus.
λύρα (Greek) → Lyra (Latin) → Lyra (constellation name in English) → Lyra
How it traveled
The word came first: lyra was the Greek name for the small harp-like instrument, and Latin took it unchanged. Ptolemy included Lyra among his forty-eight constellations in the second century, and it has stayed on every star map since, with Vega — one of the brightest stars in the northern sky — sitting inside it.
Salem
peace, whole, safe
From the Semitic root s-l-m, which gives Hebrew shalem 'complete, whole' and shalom 'peace', and Arabic salām 'peace' with sālim 'safe, sound'. The biblical Salem of Genesis 14 was understood by later Jewish and Christian writers as Jerusalem.
Shalem → Salēm → Salem
How it traveled
Salem begins as a place: the city whose king Melchizedek meets Abraham in Genesis, a name Greek and Latin translators of the Hebrew Bible passed on unchanged. English readers of scripture knew it for centuries before Puritan colonists in Massachusetts chose it for a settlement in the 1620s, and later Americans repeated it across the map — Salem in Oregon, Winston-Salem in North Carolina, New Salem in Illinois.
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
Lyra
LY-ruh
The common American pronunciation rhymes the first syllable with "my". A LEER-uh pronunciation also exists, closer to the Latin and to the Italian word lira, and both turn up among English speakers — worth deciding early which one your family uses.
- Ly — Informal, family-level clipping; rarely written down.
- Ry — Informal, from the second syllable; overlaps in sound with Ry from Ryan.
- Lyrie — Affectionate diminutive, used mostly with young children.
Salem
SAY-lum
Stress on the first syllable, matching the American cities. The Arabic name spelled the same way is said sah-LEEM, with the stress on the second syllable — worth deciding which you mean if your family uses both.
- Sal — The obvious one-syllable shortening; also long used on its own for Sally and Salvatore, so it reads as a nickname rather than a full name.
- Sale — Occasional informal clipping within families; rarely written down.
- Lem — Rare, back-clipped from the second syllable; used more as a household name than in public.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Lyra if you want…
- a name that charts abroad tooLyra is on the national lists of England & Wales
Choose Salem if you want…
- a name on the way upup 173 places on the charts in five years
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
Lyra
Strengths
- Short, two syllables, and spelled the way it is said once the first vowel is settled — no silent letters to explain.
- A word with an unbroken written record from ancient Greek through Latin into modern astronomy.
- Used for children in both the US and the UK, so it travels between English-speaking countries without adjustment.
To consider
- The LY-ruh and LEER-uh pronunciations both circulate, so expect to correct people occasionally, in either direction.
- It lands close to Lyla, Lila, Layla and Lyric in sound and spelling, and will sometimes be written down as one of those.
- The name's wave is very recent, so a child named Lyra is likely to be the only one in her class while meeting others chiefly among children her own age.
Salem
Strengths
- Spelled the way Americans already read it, thanks to Salem, Oregon and Winston-Salem — little correcting, little repeating.
- Two syllables, one stress, no silent letters; it survives being shouted across a playground.
- Used for boys and girls in US records, so the spelling carries either child without adjustment.
To consider
- The Salem witch trials of 1692 are the first thing many Americans think of, and the talking cat in Sabrina the Teenage Witch is the second. Both associations are Halloween-tinted rather than dark, but they are there for life.
- It leans toward girls in US records without settling there, and boys named Salem are the smaller group. Either child may meet an assumption about which one they are before anyone sees them.
- The name has been climbing steadily and recently. A Salem starting school now will likely be the only one, but that is less certain by the time they finish it.
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 Lyra and Salem 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 Lyra and Salem?
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
- British invasion: UK favorites still rare in the US
- Celestial names: written in the stars
- Soft-sounding names built on liquid letters
- Borrowed from the boys: names girls are winning
- all guides
Where Lyra and Salem each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Lyra or Salem — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Lyra or Salem?
- They tie in 2025: Lyra ranked #435 with 711 babies; Salem ranked #435 with 711 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Lyra or Salem?
- Salem. Over the last five years Lyra moved up 114 places; Salem moved up 173 places.
- Which is the older name, Lyra or Salem?
- Lyra entered the US charts in 1893; Salem entered the US charts in 1976. On the American record, Lyra is the older name.
- How many people are named Lyra and Salem?
- About 7,900 people named Lyra are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 6,500 people named Salem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Lyras or Salems in the classroom?
- Lyra will almost certainly be the only one in school. Salem 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
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Lyra, Salem and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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