Ira

Where Ira comes from

From a Hebrew name עִירָא ('ira), from a word meaning "watchful".
— Wiktionary's entry for Ira
  • Hebrew
  • Slavic
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #66 among boys — 249 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1881
    Peak, #57
    286 babies named Ira — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1899
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #120.
  4. 1929
    Ira Levin born
    American novelist, playwright
  5. 1981
    Ira Losco born
    Maltese singer and songwriter
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Hebrew, mostly of American usage.
  • An unincorporated community in Laclede County, Missouri.
  • A town in Cayuga County, New York.
  • An unincorporated community in Scurry County, Texas.
  • A town in Rutland County, Vermont.
  • A female given name from the Slavic languages.
Namesakes
  • Ira Levin · American novelist, playwright, 1929–2007
  • Ira Losco · Maltese singer and songwriter, born 1981
  • Ira S. Bowen · American physicist and astronomer, 1898–1973
  • Ira von Fürstenberg · Italian socialite and actress, 1940–2024
  • Ira Remsen · American chemist, 1846–1927

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.