Tara
Masculine · “from Tara”
Tara is given to girls far more often — 175,812 girls against 543 boys since 1880. See Tara as a girl name
Tara is an Irish place-name that became an American girl's name, two open syllables that are easy to love. It came to many American parents by way of a novel, and its most famous Irish treasure borrowed the name without ever having been there.
How old is the name Tara?
Tara first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Tara alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 500 people named Tara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tara most popular?
Tara peaked in 1972, reaching #1453 nationally. See the whole 1972 chart.
Where it comes from
From Teamhair to Tara
The story of Tara
Margaret Mitchell named the O'Hara plantation in Gone with the Wind Tara, after the Irish hill, and the novel and the film made the word familiar to millions of Americans who had never heard of Meath. In Ireland the name had already been borrowed once: a splendid eighth-century brooch found on a beach at Bettystown was sold by a Dublin jeweler as the Tara Brooch, a name chosen for its romance, though it had nothing to do with Tara. The name is recorded for a very few boys, but it is a girl's name everywhere.
Meaningscholars disagree
from Tara, the Irish hill of kings
Tara is the English form of Irish Teamhair, the royal hill in County Meath; its own meaning is debated, often explained as a height or a place with a view. It is also a separate Sanskrit word for star.
How the name formed
- Teamhair
- Tara
Related forms: Teamhair · Tārā
Pronouncing Tara
TAIR-uh
Most Americans say TAIR-uh. In Ireland and Britain it is often TAH-ruh.
Nicknames for Tara
Limited
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
- 1962
- Most boys named
- 197234 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1453reached in 1972
- Change vs 1994
- −44.4%5 in 1999, 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.
Tara in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Teamhair in Irish — related form
- Tārā in Sanskrit — related form
Taras among us
people named Tara 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
Tara 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
- It is short, warm and easy to spell.
- It carries a real Irish history.
- It is familiar without being common among babies now.
- Many will think of the plantation in Gone with the Wind, with the history that comes with it.
- British and Irish speakers will say it differently.
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What they receive
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Tara
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Taras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Tara are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tara in 2025?
- Tara is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Tara with classmates?
- Tara will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
Thomas#34 · Timothy#203 · Tyler#219 · Terry#1115 · Theodore#4 · Travis#434 · Todd#1609 · Tony#783
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tara? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tara and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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