Taira
Feminine
Taira is one of the two great clan names of medieval Japan. The war between the Taira and the Minamoto at the end of the twelfth century ended the world of the imperial court and began the world of the samurai, and the epic written about it opens with the most famous sentence in Japanese literature.
How old is the name Taira?
Taira first appears in US birth records in 1965 — 60 years ago. The typical Taira alive today was born around 1990, making them about 35 years old. About 1,000 people named Taira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Taira most popular?
Taira peaked in 1988, reaching #2419 nationally. See the whole 1988 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a clan name granted to imperial descendants in Japan to Taira
The story of Taira
The Tale of the Heike opens by telling you how it ends: the sound of the temple bell echoes the impermanence of all things, and the proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night. What follows is the story of a family that rose to control the court, married its daughters to emperors, and was destroyed within a generation — the last of them drowned at sea, an infant emperor taken under the waves by his grandmother rather than be captured. It was recited for centuries by blind monks with lutes, and it is where the samurai got their idea of themselves.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Japanese clan name is written with a character meaning flat or peaceful, and it was granted to imperial descendants who had been removed from the succession — a way of turning princes into subjects. In the American record the name is far more likely to be a respelling of Tara or an assembly of familiar sounds, and no certificate distinguishes the two. The Japanese name is a surname, not a given name.
How the name formed
- a clan name granted to imperial descendants in Japan
- the Taira rise and are destroyed within a generation
- an epic is recited for centuries by blind monks
- American families arrive at the same letters independently
- Taira appears in the US record in the 1960s
Related forms: Taira · Tara
Pronouncing Taira
TY-ruh
Two syllables in American use. The Japanese is three, tah-ee-rah, with even weight and pure vowels, and the two are not said alike by anybody who knows both.
Nicknames for Taira
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
- 1965
- Most girls named
- 199046 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2419reached in 1988
- Change vs 2016
- +50.0%9 in 2024, from 6
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.
Taira in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Taira in Japanese — same name
- Tara in English — related form
Tairas among us
people named Taira are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Taira sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Five letters, entirely readable, and shared with almost nobody in America.
- It has a genuine and very grand history in another language.
- The sound is soft and open with no hard consonant in it.
- The Japanese name is a surname and would not be given as a first name there.
- It will be heard as Tara, Tyra and Kira by people meeting it once.
- There is no meaning for the American name and no origin outside the pattern.
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Taira
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Tairas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Taira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Taira in 2025?
- Taira is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Taira with classmates?
- Taira will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Taira? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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