Elmira
Feminine · “Arabic amira”
Almira is the princess. Arabic amir is a commander, and its feminine amira gave Spanish and then European use a name that reached English as Almira and Elmira. The same word is behind admiral, which took a wrong turn through Latin and picked up a d it never had.
How old is the name Elmira?
Elmira was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Elmira alive today was born around 1923, making them about 102 years old. About 1,100 people named Elmira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elmira most popular?
Elmira peaked in 1887, reaching #390 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 8,470 places below that high. See the whole 1887 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From amira to Elmira
The story of Elmira
The Arabic root a-m-r, to command, produced one of the more traveled words in the European vocabulary. Amir gives emir, the title used across the Muslim world. Amir al-bahr, commander of the sea, gave the Romance languages amiral and English admiral, with a d inserted by clerks who assumed the first syllable was the Latin prefix ad-. The feminine amira gave the name. Handel wrote an opera called Almira in 1705, his first, and the name circulated in European drama through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which is how it reached English-speaking families. In America it became substantial in the nineteenth century and gave its name to Elmira, New York, where a local story attributes the town's name to a child of that name being called repeatedly by her mother.
Meaningscholars disagree
Arabic amira, a princess or female commander
Elmira is generally a variant of Almira, from Arabic al-amira, the princess, feminine of amir, a commander. It reached European use through Spain and through seventeenth-century literature: Almira appears as a character name in opera and drama. It may alternatively be a clip of Wilhelmina or Edelmira. It peaks in the American data in 1887.
How the name formed
- amira
- Almira
- Elmira
Related forms: Amira · Almira
Pronouncing Elmira
el-MY-rah
Three syllables, stress on the second, with a long i. el-MEER-ah is also heard and is closer to the Arabic. Both circulate in American use.
Nicknames for Elmira
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1918108 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #390reached in 1887
- Change vs 2022
- −15.4%11 in 2025, from 13
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Elmira in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Amira in Arabic — related form
- Almira in English — spelling variant
Elmiras among us
people named Elmira are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Elmira
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Elmira 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Elmira beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elmira in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Arabic root is settled and its European descendants are well documented.
- Mira is a complete name as a short form.
- It fits the revival of nineteenth-century names.
- Two vowel readings of the stressed syllable circulate.
- Almira and Elmira are both in use.
- It shares a spelling with a New York city.
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Elmira
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elmiras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Elmira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Elmira in 2025?
- Elmira ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elmira?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Elmira — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elmira with classmates?
- Elmira will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elmira
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elmira? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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