Hira
Feminine · “The cave of revelation”
Hira is two names that share four letters and nothing else. In Arabic and Urdu it is the cave on Jabal al-Nur where Muhammad received the first revelation. In Hindi and Gujarati it is hira, a diamond. Both are used in America and the spelling does not say which.
How old is the name Hira?
Hira first appears in US birth records in 1984 — 41 years ago. The typical Hira alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 700 people named Hira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hira most popular?
Hira peaked in 1999, reaching #3509 nationally. Today it ranks #5238, 1,729 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ḥirāʾ to Hira
The story of Hira
The cave of Hira sits near the summit of Jabal al-Nur outside Mecca, and Islamic tradition places the first revelation of the Qur'an there in the month of Ramadan. That makes Hira a name of enormous religious resonance in Muslim families, particularly in Pakistan and among Urdu speakers, where it is an ordinary girls' name. Separately, hira has been the Indian word for a diamond for a very long time and is used as a name in Hindu and Jain families in Gujarat and Rajasthan. American records show both arriving from the 1970s with South Asian migration, with a peak in 1999, and the record cannot distinguish between them.
Meaningscholars disagree
The cave of revelation, or a diamond
Arabic Ḥirāʾ is the name of a cave near Mecca and has no agreed meaning of its own; its weight as a name is entirely from the event associated with it. Sanskrit and Hindi hīra, from Sanskrit hīraka, means a diamond, and gives the name Hira and the masculine Hiralal. The two are unrelated words in unrelated languages, and both produce American bearers.
How the name formed
- Ḥirāʾ
- Hira
Related forms: حراء · حرا · हीरा · હીરા · Hira
Pronouncing Hira
HEE-rah
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a long ee. The Arabic Ḥirāʾ has a pharyngeal h and a final glottal stop, neither of which survives in English; the Hindi hīrā is closer to the English saying.
Nicknames for Hira
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
- 1984
- Most girls named
- 199935 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3509reached in 1999
- Change vs 2024
- −29.4%24 in 2025, from 34
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.
Hira in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- حراء in Arabic — related form
- حرا in Urdu — same name
- हीरा in Hindi — related form
- હીરા in Gujarati — related form
- Hira in Turkish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Hiras among us
people named Hira are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was named Hira
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Mitra test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hira's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mitra climbed just as high around 1971, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mitra's path sketches the road Hira is walking now.
Hira 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
Hira beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hira in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two open syllables travel anywhere.
- Both possible sources are settled, respected and easy to explain.
- Every sound in the English version is straightforward.
- The two sources come from different religions, which matters to some families.
- Hira, Heera and Hera are all in use and will be confused.
- The Greek Hera is close enough in English to be misheard for it.
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What they receive
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Hira
Feminine · #5238 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hiras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Hira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hira in 2025?
- Hira ranks #5238 among US girl names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hira?
- About 1 in every 66,969 US girls born in 2025 was named Hira — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hira with classmates?
- Hira will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hira
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Irena#5238 · Esma#5238 · Dagny#5238 · Venice#5238 · Lisbeth#5238 · Loralie#5238 · Alania#5238 · Erma#5238
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hira? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hira and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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