Tarra
Feminine · “from the Hill of Tara”
The doubled r is not decoration here; it changes the vowel in front of it. A single r leaves the first syllable open and the a long, which is how the Irish name is said. Doubling it closes the syllable and shortens the a, which is how most Americans read this spelling. One letter, and the name is pronounced differently.
How old is the name Tarra?
Tarra first appears in US birth records in 1955 — 70 years ago. The typical Tarra alive today was born around 1980, making them about 45 years old. About 2,200 people named Tarra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tarra most popular?
Tarra peaked in 1972, reaching #1000 nationally. See the whole 1972 chart.
Where it comes from
From Teamhair to Tarra
The story of Tarra
The same four letters belong to a completely separate tradition on the other side of the world. In Tibetan and Indian Buddhism, Tara is a major figure, a bodhisattva of compassion whose name means star in Sanskrit, and she is among the most widely venerated figures in the Himalayan world. She has nothing whatsoever to do with Ireland; the resemblance is coincidence, the two words descend from unrelated languages and arrived at the same shape by accident. Names that collide like this are more common than people expect, and they are usually treated as one name with two meanings when they are in fact two names that happen to be spelled alike.
Meaning
from the Hill of Tara
The Irish name is a place, Teamhair, in County Meath. Its own sense is debated but the identification of the name with the place is not. The doubled spelling does not point anywhere different; it only changes how the word is said.
How the name formed
- Teamhair
- Tara
- Tarra
Related forms: Teamhair · Tārā
Pronouncing Tarra
TARR-uh
Two syllables with the stress at the front and a short first vowel. The Irish name is usually said TAH-ruh with a long a, and this spelling steers away from that reading.
Nicknames for Tarra
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
- 1955
- Most girls named
- 1972118 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1000reached in 1972
- Change vs 2013
- +16.7%7 in 2020, 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.
Tarra in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Teamhair in Irish — related form
- Tārā in Sanskrit — related form
Tarras among us
people named Tarra 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
Tarra 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, easy and instantly sayable by anyone.
- The spelling settles a pronunciation that the standard form leaves open.
- It reaches back to a genuinely ancient place without sounding archaic.
- Tara is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected to it for life.
- The doubled r pushes the name away from the Irish pronunciation it came from.
- It sits close enough to several English words to invite playground variations.
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Tarra
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Tarras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,200 people named Tarra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tarra in 2025?
- Tarra is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Tarra with classmates?
- Tarra will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
Teresa#908 · Theresa#1548 · Tiffany#878 · Tammy#3645 · Taylor#403 · Tina#2778 · Tracy#2153 · Thelma#4661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tarra? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tarra and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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