Lara

Where Lara comes from

Anglicized from Russian Ла́ра (Lára), a Russian pet form of Larissa, known from the novel (1957) and film (1965) Dr Zhivago.
— Wiktionary's entry for Lara
  • Russian
  • Ukrainian
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Lara through the years
  1. 1887
    First appearance
    #1,147 among girls with 5 babies, the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1965
    Around this time: Doctor Zhivago
    Film, 1965 · Source
    “It was popularized in the Anglosphere by a character in the 1965 film Dr. Zhivago.”
  3. 1969
    Peak, #222
    1,354 babies named Lara, the most in any year.
  4. 1970
    Lara Fabian born
    Belgian and Canadian singer and songwriter
  5. 1973
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #334.
  6. 1978
    Lara Dutta born
    Indian actress
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Russian or Ukrainian.
Namesakes
  • Lara Dutta · Indian actress, born 1978
  • Lara Fabian · Belgian and Canadian singer and songwriter, born 1970
  • Lara Flynn Boyle · American actress, born 1970
  • Lara Gut-Behrami · Swiss alpine skier, born 1991
  • Lara Stone · Dutch model, born 1983

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. Events show what happened around then, not why parents chose the name. Quotes are from the linked Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).