Lyra

What Lyra means

Means “a lyre; the constellation Lyra”

Borrowed from Latin Lyra / lyra, from Ancient Greek λύρα (lúra, “a lyre; the constellation Lyra”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Lyra” (revision 93672254), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Lyra?

US: Rising: up from #978 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #222 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2025, when 711 girls got the name (#435 that year). First in the US records in 1893.

How common

• About 1 in 2,261 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 394 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 426 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in VT (5.13 per 1,000 girls), OR (1.3 per 1,000 girls), MA (1.21 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Lyra is #435 in the US and #70 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Lyra were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Laura805 US · 148 E&W
• Lara409 US · 465 E&W
• Lori118 US · 14 E&W
• Lora58 US · 7 E&W
• Lira29 US · 21 E&W
• Lyrah17 US · 11 E&W
• Leira22 US
• Laira9 US · 5 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Lyra

Girls

• Phoebe#157“bright”^*
• Penelope#22possibly “duck”^*
• Zara#212“flower”^*
• Elaina#267Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #267 vs #951 in 2025
• Georgia#99“farmer”^*
• Gia#287Editor’s note Up from #372 in 2015 to #287 in 2025 in the US

For a brother

• Isaias#426Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #426 vs #3,256 in 2025
• Sebastian#16“august, venerable, exalted”^*
• Damian#109“to tame”^*
• Solomon#422“peace”^*
• Orion#334possibly “heaven's light”^*
• Pierce#505Form of Peter, meaning “stone, rock”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Greek, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Lyra’s. Rank is US 2025.