Iqra
Feminine · Arabic roots · “read" or "recite" (a command)”
Iqra is a word before it is a name: the Arabic imperative "read." It comes from the same root as Qur'an, and in Islamic tradition it is the first word of the first revelation given to the Prophet Muhammad. Two syllables, five letters, and a q that arrives without the u English usually attaches to it.
How old is the name Iqra?
Iqra first appears in US birth records in 1990 — 35 years ago. The typical Iqra is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,800 people named Iqra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Iqra most popular?
Iqra peaked in 2025, reaching #1467 nationally. Today it ranks #1467, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Iqra appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From qara'a (Arabic verb, "to read, recite") to Iqra
The story of Iqra
The name is Arabic, and it begins in scripture rather than in a family tree. In Islamic tradition, the revelation of the Qur'an opens with the command "Iqra bismi rabbika alladhi khalaq" — "Read, in the name of your Lord who created" — and that single opening word became a name in its own right. It traveled with Muslim communities well beyond Arabic: it is given in Pakistan and among Urdu speakers, in Somalia and the Somali diaspora, and across Southeast Asia, where Qur'an-reading primers for children carry the word on their covers. Its appearance in American records belongs to that migration, and in the United States it has been recorded consistently for girls.
Meaning
"read" or "recite" (a command)
From the Arabic root q-r-' (qara'a, "to read, to recite") — the same root that gives Qur'an, "the recitation." Iqra is the imperative: not reading as a state, but read as an instruction.
How the name formed
- qara'aArabic verb, "to read, recite"
- iqra'imperative, "read"
- Iqra
Related forms: اقرأ · اقرا · Iqrah · Iqraa
Pronouncing Iqra
IK-rah
Two syllables, stress on the first. In Arabic the q is a deeper, further-back sound than English k, and the word ends with a light catch in the throat; the everyday English pronunciation smooths both, and that version is widely accepted.
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
- 1990
- Most girls named
- 2025146 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1467reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +6.6%146 in 2025, from 137
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.
Iqra in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- اقرأ in Arabic — transliteration
- اقرا in Urdu — transliteration
- Iqrah in English — spelling variant
- Iqraa in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Texas.
Iqras among us
people named Iqra are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 11,009 born in 2025 was named Iqra
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 Shameeka test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Iqra's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Shameeka climbed just as high around 1977, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Shameeka's path sketches the road Iqra is walking now.
Iqra 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Iqra is headed
Iqra looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 29% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Iqra beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Iqra in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, two syllables, and spelled exactly as it is said once someone has heard it — no silent letters, no competing pronunciations.
- A meaning that is fully settled and easy to say in one word: read.
- Directly connected to the opening word of the Qur'an, a link recognized instantly across Arabic, Urdu, Somali and Malay-speaking communities.
- Recorded across several languages and continents while keeping the same spelling in Latin script.
- The q without a following u is unfamiliar to English-trained eyes, so expect it to be read as "Iqura" or spelled back to you wrongly on forms. A calm one-line correction covers it for life.
- She will most likely be the only Iqra in her school, which cuts both ways: never a surname initial after her name, but also a lifetime of first introductions.
- In the United States the name's wave is very recent, so nearly everyone carrying it here is young — there are few adult Iqras nearby to make it feel established.
- It is a scriptural word, not a neutral one. For many families that is precisely the point; it is worth knowing that the reference is explicit and will be read that way.
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What they receive
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Iqra
Feminine · Arabic roots · #1467 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Iqras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Iqra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Iqra in 2025?
- Iqra ranks #1467 among US girl names in 2025, with 146 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Iqra?
- About 1 in every 11,009 US girls born in 2025 was named Iqra — 146 in all.
- Will my child share the name Iqra with classmates?
- Iqra will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Iqra
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Louella#1467 · Baila#1467 · Ellowyn#1467 · Zia#1467 · Roselynn#1467 · Delani#1467 · Joey#1467 · Jayde#1467
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Iqra? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Iqra and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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