Kaira
Feminine
Five letters, two syllables, and an open vowel at each end — Kaira is the kind of name that lands quickly in the ear. It has been turning up quietly in American records for decades, while sounding close kin to Keira, Kyra and Kiara, all of which arrived in English by quite separate roads. Kaira is also the older administrative name of a town and district in Gujarat, western India.
How old is the name Kaira?
Kaira first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Kaira is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,300 people named Kaira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaira most popular?
Kaira peaked in 2019, reaching #1251 nationally. Today it ranks #1423, 172 places below that high. See the whole 2019 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Kaira
Think of Kaira as a name assembled by the ear rather than handed down by a document. The sounds in it were already loved and already traveling — Ciara out of Ireland, Kyra out of Greek, Chiara out of Italy — and somewhere in the meeting of those currents a spelling settled that belongs to none of them and answers to all of them. Its rise in American records is recent enough that most of the people carrying it are still children, which means the name's story here is being written now, in classrooms and on library cards, rather than recovered from an archive. Half a world away the same five letters name a town in Gujarat, which is a coincidence of sound rather than a line of descent — but a pleasing one.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No meaning is established for this spelling. What is documented are its near neighbors, each with its own source: Irish Ciara and its English respelling Keira, from ciar, 'dark'; Kyra, tied to Greek kyria, 'lady'; and Kiara, which runs back to Italian Chiara, 'bright, clear'. Kaira sits within earshot of all three without descending provably from any of them. It is also a place name in Gujarat.
Pronouncing Kaira
KY-rah
Two live options in American use: KY-rah, rhyming with Kyra, and KAY-rah. A third, KAI-rah with the first syllable said as two blended sounds, turns up as well. Whichever the family chooses, expect to say it once at every introduction.
Nicknames for Kaira
High
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 2019186 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1251reached in 2019
- Change vs 2024
- −17.8%152 in 2025, from 185
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.
Kaira in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ciara in Irish — related form
- Keira in English — related form
- Kyra in English — related form
- Chiara in Italian — related form
- Kiara in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Kairas among us
people named Kaira are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 10,574 born in 2025 was named Kaira
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaira
- #1423
- Kaira on the 2025 chart
- #752
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaira went to 152 girls in 2025, but Kayra, Caira and Khaira and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 209, which makes it the 752nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 671 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 7,690 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 10,574 for Kaira itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jacinta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaira's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jacinta climbed just as high around 1982, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jacinta's path sketches the road Kaira is walking now.
Kaira 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
Where Kaira is headed
Kaira should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Kaira beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaira 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 the way it sounds once the first vowel is agreed on — easy to write by hand early.
- Sits in a well-known family of names, so listeners have somewhere to put it even on first hearing.
- Ready-made short forms in Kai and Kay, both of which already work as names on their own.
- The letters and sounds travel well across English, Romance and Indian-language speakers alike.
- Rare enough that it rarely needs a last initial attached, in a classroom or anywhere else.
- The pronunciation is genuinely unsettled — KY-rah and KAY-rah are both in use. Deciding which one you mean, and saying it first and clearly, saves a lifetime of small corrections.
- It will be written as Kyra, Keira or Kiara by people who heard it rather than read it. The spelling is simple; the field of look-alikes is crowded.
- No meaning is documented for this spelling, so the inevitable question has no tidy one-line answer. What you can offer instead is the family of names it stands beside.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kaira to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Kaira
Feminine · #1423 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kairas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,300 people named Kaira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaira?
- Kaira is the most-used spelling in US records — 152 of the 209 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kayra, Caira, Khaira, Kairah and Khairah.
- How popular is the name Kaira in 2025?
- Kaira ranks #1423 among US girl names in 2025, with 152 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaira?
- About 1 in every 10,574 US girls born in 2025 was named Kaira — 152 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaira with classmates?
- Kaira will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaira
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kaleah#1423 · Sybil#1423 · Emry#1423 · Desiree#1427 · Zarah#1427 · Aracely#1427 · Evalyn#1427 · Sana#1427
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaira? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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