Tierra
Feminine · “earth”
Tierra is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 14,941 girls against 70 boys since 1880.
Tierra is the Spanish word for earth or land — the same word in Tierra del Fuego, the land of fire, which Magellan's crew named for the fires they saw burning on shore.
How old is the name Tierra?
Tierra first appears in US birth records in 1964 — 61 years ago. The typical Tierra alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 14,500 people named Tierra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tierra most popular?
Tierra peaked in 1993, reaching #320 nationally. Today it ranks #5554, 5,234 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From terra to Tierra
The story of Tierra
Tierra is not a traditional Spanish given name; it entered American use in the late twentieth century as a word chosen for its sound and meaning, alongside Sierra, Cierra and Ciara, which share its shape. It rose sharply through the 1980s in American records and peaked in the early 1990s.
Meaning
earth, land
From the Spanish tierra, 'earth' or 'land', from the Latin terra. The word is ordinary Spanish and the meaning is entirely transparent to speakers. It is a word-name rather than an inherited personal name, which is how it differs from most Spanish girls' names.
How the name formed
- terra
- tierra
- Tierra
Related forms: Tierra · Terra · Tiara
Pronouncing Tierra
tee-AIR-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Spanish says TYEH-rra with a rolled r and two syllables.
Nicknames for Tierra
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
- 1964
- Most girls named
- 1994811 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #320reached in 1993
- Change vs 2024
- −26.7%22 in 2025, from 30
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.
Tierra in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tierra in Spanish — same name
- Terra in Latin — related form
- Tiara in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Georgia.
Tierras among us
people named Tierra are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 73,058 born in 2025 was named Tierra
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Tierra
- #5554
- Tierra on the 2025 chart
- #933
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Tierra went to 22 girls in 2025, but Tiera is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 27, which makes it the 933rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,621 places above the chart.
- Tierra22
- Tiera5
About 1 girl in 59,528 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 73,058 for Tierra itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Leanne test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tierra's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Leanne climbed just as high around 1966, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Leanne's path sketches the road Tierra is walking now.
Tierra 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
Tierra beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tierra in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is concrete, transparent and undisputed to any Spanish speaker.
- Tia and Terra are two short forms with their own records.
- Three syllables with a strong middle, a rhythm that carries well.
- It is an ordinary Spanish noun rather than a traditional name.
- Tiara and Sierra are close enough to cause confusion.
- It is closely dated to the 1990s in American records.
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What they receive
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Tierra
Feminine · #5554 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tierras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 14,500 people named Tierra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Tierra?
- Tierra is the most-used spelling in US records — 22 of the 27 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Tiera.
- How popular is the name Tierra in 2025?
- Tierra ranks #5554 among US girl names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tierra?
- About 1 in every 73,058 US girls born in 2025 was named Tierra — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tierra with classmates?
- Tierra will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tierra
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eda#5554 · Phebe#5554 · Felicia#5554 · Audie#5554 · Maryellen#5554 · Warren#5554 · Ruthann#5554 · Nettie#5554
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tierra? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tierra and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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