Takara
Feminine · “treasure”
Takara is the Japanese word for treasure, and it is also a perfectly regular American build. Japanese takara means a treasure or a valued thing; American naming makes names by putting Ta- in front of an ending. Both routes produce the same five letters, and an American record does not say which one a family took.
How old is the name Takara?
Takara first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Takara alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 1,400 people named Takara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Takara most popular?
Takara peaked in 1983, reaching #1475 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 13,467 places below that high. See the whole 1983 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Takara
Japanese given names are usually written with characters chosen for meaning, and takara is among the words used that way, though more often for boys than girls in Japan itself. American use has run on a separate track. From the nineteen-seventies the Ta- prefix was fully productive in American naming, combining with a stock of endings to produce Tanisha, Takisha, Tamara and Takara, and none of that had anything to do with Japanese. The two roads arrive at one spelling, which is a coincidence rather than a borrowing in either direction.
Meaningscholars disagree
treasure
Japanese takara means treasure, wealth or a precious thing, and it appears in compounds throughout the language — in words for a treasure ship, a treasured child, a lucky charm. That is settled Japanese. Whether an American Takara descends from it is another matter: Ta- is one of the four great prefixes in American combination naming, and -kara is a familiar ending. Both accounts are entirely plausible and the record does not choose between them.
Pronouncing Takara
tah-KAR-uh
tah-KAR-uh, three syllables, stress in the middle, in American English. Japanese gives all three syllables equal weight and no stress at all, TA-KA-RA, which sounds noticeably flatter to an English ear and is the correct reading in that language.
Nicknames for Takara
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
- 1974
- Most girls named
- 198378 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1475reached in 1983
- Change vs 2024
- −44.4%5 in 2025, from 9
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.
Takara in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- 宝 in Japanese — transliteration
- Takara in Japanese — same name
Takaras among us
people named Takara are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Takara
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 Marilouise test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Takara's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marilouise climbed just as high around 1924, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marilouise's path sketches the road Takara is walking now.
Takara 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
Takara beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Takara in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kara is waiting inside it as a short form that is entirely at home in English.
- The Japanese meaning is concrete, warm and easy to explain.
- Three open syllables that sit well against a short or blunt surname.
- The stress works differently in Japanese and English, so the name is said two ways depending on the room.
- Takara, Takarra and Tacara are all in American records, so the spelling gets dictated.
- If a family means the Japanese word, that has to be said, because the American reading of the name assumes otherwise.
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What they receive
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Takara
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Takaras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Takara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Takara in 2025?
- Takara ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Takara?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Takara — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Takara with classmates?
- Takara will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Takara
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Lyda#14942 · Zula#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Leala#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Takara? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Takara and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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