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Meaning of the nameLara

Lara is a feminine name, a Russian short form of Larissa, a name possibly taken from the ancient Greek city of Larisa, 'citadel'.

Meaning

“Russian short form of Larisa, a name possibly taken from the Greek city of Larisa, which meant 'citadel'”

Source: Behind the Name: Larisa

People (2022)
281,125
Rank in Brazil
#110
Median age
9 years
2010 Census
106,106
people

Lara in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Lara, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 2010s (138,690 people).

279,582 women 1,543 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Lara is most common

States with the highest share of people named Lara in the population, in the 2022 Census.

  1. Tocantins 0.217%
  2. Maranhão 0.207%
  3. Piauí 0.206%
  4. Sergipe 0.196%
  5. Ceará 0.196%
All states
StatePeople% of population
São Paulo48,5490.109%
Minas Gerais33,6700.164%
Bahia25,1500.178%
Rio de Janeiro22,1400.138%
Ceará17,2110.196%
Maranhão14,0460.207%
Goiás12,7240.180%
Paraná12,1540.106%
Pernambuco11,6400.129%
Santa Catarina9,8690.130%
Rio Grande do Sul9,7510.090%
Pará8,6270.106%
Espírito Santo7,3530.192%
Piauí6,7400.206%
Rio Grande do Norte5,1310.155%
Alagoas5,0870.163%
Distrito Federal4,7060.167%
Paraíba4,5980.116%
Amazonas4,4690.113%
Sergipe4,3370.196%
Tocantins3,2840.217%
Mato Grosso do Sul3,2740.119%
Mato Grosso3,0070.082%
Rondônia1,4070.089%
Acre7980.096%
Roraima7700.121%
Amapá6330.086%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Lara

Behind the Name describes Lara as a Russian short form of Larisa and says that Larisa perhaps comes from the name of the ancient city of Larisa, in Thessaly, which meant 'citadel'. Wiktionary records Lara in Portuguese as a diminutive of Larissa and explains the English Lara as an adaptation of the Russian Lára, a nickname for Larissa known from the novel Doctor Zhivago (1957). The Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil (Dictionary of Names in Use in Brazil) lists Lahra and Larah as spelling variants. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 281,125 people named Lara, with a median age of 9. Proportionally, it is most common in Tocantins.

Sources

  1. Behind the Name: Lara (1) · behindthename.com · origin
  2. Behind the Name: Larisa · behindthename.com · meaning
  3. Wiktionary: Lara · en.wiktionary.org · origin
  4. Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Lara · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · spelling

Questions about the name Lara

What does the name Lara mean?

Lara means “Russian short form of Larisa, a name possibly taken from the Greek city of Larisa, which meant 'citadel'”, according to Behind the Name.

How many people are named Lara in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 281,125 people with the first name Lara, which ranks it number 110 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 2010s.

Is Lara a boy's or a girl's name?

Lara is a female name: in the 2022 Census, 279,582 women and 1,543 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Lara?

Lara is a name of Slavic and Greek origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Lara most common?

Proportionally, in Tocantins: 0.217% of the state's population is named Lara (3,284 people), according to the 2022 Census.

More names of Slavic origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Lara with a source. See the methodology.