ninan.org

Tara

Girls' name · Late 20th-century

Living in the US
~169,100 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#844 among girls
Births in 2025
322 176,355 since 1880
Typical age
44 years, median

Tara popularity over time

Tara rank by birth year, 1939–2025Tara ranked #3,429 in 1939 and #844 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #35, in 1977.#100#1,000#844best #35 in 197719401960198020002020
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1939–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

More children were named Tara in 1972 than in any other year — 7,268 of them. It first clears the SSA reporting threshold in 1939. It has held a top-100 place in 21 separate years.

The 2025 position is #844, on 322 births. Year on year the rank improved by 174.

Babies named Tara per yearPeaks at 7,268 births in 1972.7,268 in 1972019401960198020002020
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Tara?

An estimated 169,100 living Americans are called Tara. That is out of 176,355 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Tara?

Median age among living Taras: 44. More of them were born in the 1970s than in any other decade. By the site’s era rules that makes Tara a late 20th-century name.

Your Tara

Ages of living people named TaraHalf of living Taras are older than 44 and half younger.median 44020406080
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Tara is most common

Tara is 2.2× as common in Washington as it is nationally. Massachusetts, New Jersey and Illinois follow.

Where Tara is used more than average5 states use the name Tara more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: 2.2× the national rateWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: 1.7× the national rateILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: 1.9× the national rateNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: 1.7× the national rateCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: 2.1× the national rateMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: not over-representedDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Tara is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Washington 101 2.2×
Massachusetts 80 2.1×
New Jersey 101 1.9×
Illinois 127 1.7×
California 452 1.7×

Tara in England and Wales

ONS recorded 90 births named Tara in 2025, ranking it #444. That is 27% higher than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Tara comes from

Borrowed from Irish Teamhrach, genitive of Teamhair, from Old Irish Temair. The female given name is derived from the name of the plantation in Gone with the Wind, named for the place in Ireland.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Tara

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Tara Reid American actress 1975 54
Tara Strong Canadian-American actress 1973 51
Tara Lipinski American figure skater 1982 50
Tara Sutaria Indian singer and actress 1995 31
Tara Davis-Woodhall American track and field athlete 1999 30
Tara Westover American historian and author 1986 30
Tara Fitzgerald English actress 1967 27
Tara Sharma British film actress 1977 26
Photo credits (8)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 1,288 in 1967 to 2,194 in 1968 — 1.7 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Names similar to Tara

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/tara.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).