Vira
Feminine · “faith”
Vira has two lives. In Ukrainian it is faith, one of three sisters whose names are Faith, Hope and Love and who are venerated together in the Orthodox calendar. In American records of the nineteenth century it is something quieter: a short form of Elvira and Almira, written down as a name in its own right.
How old is the name Vira?
Vira first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Vira alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 400 people named Vira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vira most popular?
Vira peaked in 1884, reaching #686 nationally. Today it ranks #4987, 4,301 places below that high. See the whole 1884 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From vira to Vira
The story of Vira
The Slavic names Vera, Nadiya and Lyubov translate the Greek names of three sisters martyred with their mother in the Christian calendar, and giving all three to daughters of one family was a real practice. Ukrainian says Vira where Russian says Vera. Quite separately, American families in the eighteen-hundreds shortened Elvira and Almira in speech and then on paper, which produced a small crop of Viras with no Slavic connection at all.
Meaningscholars disagree
faith, in Ukrainian; otherwise a clipping of Elvira
Ukrainian and Russian vira and vera mean faith, and the name belongs to a set of three translated from Greek: Faith, Hope and Love. Separately, American Viras of the nineteenth century are generally short forms of Elvira, Almira or Lavira, and the two roads are unconnected.
How the name formed
- vira
- Vira
Related forms: Vera · Віра · Vera
Pronouncing Vira
VEE-rah
Two syllables, stress in front, the first vowel long. Some American families say VY-ruh, following Elvira, and both are heard.
Nicknames for Vira
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
- 1882
- Most girls named
- 191730 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #686reached in 1884
- Change vs 2023
- +100.0%26 in 2025, from 13
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.
Vira in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Vera in Russian — same name
- Віра in Ukrainian — transliteration
- Vera in English — spelling variant
Viras among us
people named Vira are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 61,818 born in 2025 was named Vira
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Vira
- #4987
- Vira on the 2025 chart
- #928
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Vira went to 26 girls in 2025, but Vyra is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 32, which makes it the 928th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,059 places above the chart.
- Vira26
- Vyra6
About 1 girl in 50,227 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 61,818 for Vira 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
Fashion outlook
Vira 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
Where Vira is headed
Vira should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Vira beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Vira in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Ukrainian meaning is a single word and a strong one.
- Four letters and two syllables: quick to write and easy to say.
- It has both a living Slavic use and a documented American record.
- Vira and Vera are near-identical and get written for one another.
- Two pronunciations circulate, one Slavic and one American.
- Its two histories are unrelated, so the meaning depends on which a family claims.
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Vira
Feminine · #4987 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Viras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Vira are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Vira?
- Vira is the most-used spelling in US records — 26 of the 32 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Vyra.
- How popular is the name Vira in 2025?
- Vira ranks #4987 among US girl names in 2025, with 26 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Vira?
- About 1 in every 61,818 US girls born in 2025 was named Vira — 26 in all.
- Will my child share the name Vira with classmates?
- Vira will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Vira
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Perri#4987 · Giannina#4987 · Karisma#4987 · Zuleyka#4987 · Mccall#4987 · Makinley#4987 · Jayani#4987 · Mela#4987
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vira? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Vira and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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