Meera
Feminine · Sanskrit roots · “Ocean”
Meera belongs to one of the most-sung names in North India: Mirabai, the sixteenth-century Rajput poet whose bhajans to Krishna have been carried by singers ever since. In English it lands cleanly — two open syllables, MEE-rah, nothing to spell out twice. It has been on US records long enough to have quietly established itself, and the climb it is making now is the steepest it has ever made.
How old is the name Meera?
Meera first appears in US birth records in 1965 — 60 years ago. The typical Meera is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 4,200 people named Meera are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Meera most popular?
Meera peaked in 2025, reaching #1016 nationally. Today it ranks #1016, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From Mīrā (Sanskrit) to Meera
The story of Meera
The name is Sanskrit in origin and became famous through Mirabai — Meera Bai — a Rajput noblewoman of the sixteenth century whose devotional poems to Krishna were composed in the vernacular rather than in Sanskrit, and are still performed as bhajans across India today. Because of her, Meera has been in continuous use in Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Tamil-speaking families for centuries, long before it appeared in American records. It reached the United States with South Asian migration, and the states where it is strongest — California, Texas, New Jersey — trace that history fairly precisely. The spelling with two e's is the transliteration that best protects the long first vowel for English readers.
Meaningscholars disagree
Ocean, sea (Sanskrit)
The most widely cited reading is Sanskrit mīra, 'ocean' or 'sea'; some Sanskrit glossaries instead give 'boundary, limit', and the name is also sometimes read as 'prosperous'. Worth knowing separately: the English spelling Mira reaches some families by other roads entirely — Slavic mir, 'peace' or 'world', and Latin mirus, 'wonderful' — but Meera with the double e is the Indic name.
How the name formed
- MīrāSanskrit
- Mirabai / Meera Bai
- Mira
- Meera
Related forms: मीरा · Mira · મીરા · மீரா · Mirabai · Meerah
Pronouncing Meera
MEE-rah
Two syllables, stress on the first. The second vowel is an open 'ah' in Indian languages; many American speakers soften it to 'uh' (MEE-ruh), and both are heard without anyone correcting anyone.
Nicknames for Meera
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
- 1965
- Most girls named
- 2025246 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1016reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +10.8%246 in 2025, from 222
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.
Meera in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- मीरा in Hindi — transliteration
- Mira in English — spelling variant
- મીરા in Gujarati — transliteration
- மீரா in Tamil — transliteration
- Mirabai in Hindi — related form
- Meerah in Malayalam — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New Jersey.
Meeras among us
people named Meera are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 6,534 born in 2025 was named Meera
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 Kristel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Meera's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kristel climbed just as high around 1982, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kristel's path sketches the road Meera is walking now.
Meera 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 Meera is headed
Meera 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.
Meera beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Meera in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds for English readers — the double e locks in the long vowel, so it rarely needs repeating.
- Centuries of unbroken use across Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Tamil-speaking families, so it is a known name on two continents.
- Two syllables, no consonant clusters, easy for small children and for people meeting it for the first time.
- Carries a real and living cultural anchor in Mirabai's devotional poetry, still sung today.
- Has an established short form, Mira, that works as a full name in its own right.
- Mira, Meera and Mirah all circulate, so the question 'which spelling?' will come up at forms and introductions. Choosing the one you want and saying it the same way every time settles most of it.
- Within South Asian communities the name points straight at Mirabai and her devotion to Krishna. Many families choose it for exactly that; if you would rather the name arrive without that association, it is worth knowing it is a strong one.
- It is rare enough in American schools that your child will likely be the only one — pleasant most days, and it does mean saying the name twice now and then.
- Some English speakers reach for MAY-rah or MEER-uh on first sight. One correction usually holds.
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What they receive
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Meera
Feminine · Sanskrit roots · #1016 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Meeras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,200 people named Meera are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Meera in 2025?
- Meera ranks #1016 among US girl names in 2025, with 246 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Meera?
- About 1 in every 6,534 US girls born in 2025 was named Meera — 246 in all.
- Will my child share the name Meera with classmates?
- Meera will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Meera
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Artemis#1016 · Agnes#1016 · Beverly#1016 · Marjorie#1016 · Yusra#1016 · Belle#1013 · Viola#1013 · Cynthia#1013
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Meera? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Meera and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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