Kyra
- Pronunciation
- [Ky-ra]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Enthroned. Variant Of Cyra: (Moon): Feminine Of Cyrus: (Sun).
- Origin
- Greek
About the Name Kyra
Kyra is a modern American spelling variant of Kira (see separate entry on Kira for the multiple proposed origins — Russian feminine of Cyrus, Hebrew Kyra meaning "throne/lady," Japanese kira "sparkling," or Irish Ciara "dark"). The Y-spelling Kyra is essentially a 20th-21st century American invention.
The various spellings (Kyra, Kira, Keira, Ciara) are tracked separately by SSA and represent the same underlying name family. The Kyra spelling specifically appeals to parents seeking a sleeker form. Notable bearers include American actress Kyra Sedgwick (Kyra Minturn Sedgwick, born 1965, the iconic American actress whose career through TNT's The Closer 2005–2012 made her one of the foundational early-21st-century American TV stars; she is married to Kevin Bacon); contemporary American basketball player Kyra Murphy; and the contemporary fictional Kyra of various contemporary novels.
Kyra's American climb has been substantial: the name climbed from outside the US top 1000 in 1985 to the US top 300 girls' rank by 2014 and the top 300 since. The name's appeal sits in three contemporary American naming preferences: the multi-cultural etymological flexibility (Russian/Hebrew/Japanese/Irish), the strong Kyra Sedgwick American TV cultural anchor, and the modern visual presence with the K-Y spelling. Two firm syllables, soft consonants, and tonal warmth distinctive to multi-cultural names. The name reads as both classical-multi-cultural and contemporary American. Common nicknames are scarce since the name is already short — Ky (the dominant short form, casual and warm) and the rare Ki each occasionally appear; the alternate spellings Kyra (the more popular American form), Kira, Keira (Irish-derived), Cyra, and Ciara (Irish original) have their own SSA tracking. International forms include Kira (Russian/Hebrew), Ciara (Irish), Kyrie (Greek), and the broader Kira/Cyrus family.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Kyra
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Kyra by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2005 with 1,912 girls named Kyra (girl rank #179 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #830 for girls (329 US births). That's 651 places below its 2005 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Kyra Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Kyra the strongest states are West Virginia, New Mexico, Idaho.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Virginia | #270 | 20 |
| 2 | New Mexico | #288 | 21 |
| 3 | Idaho | #430 | 15 |
| 4 | Nebraska | #430 | 22 |
| 5 | Connecticut | #449 | 29 |
| 6 | Nevada | #464 | 39 |
| 7 | Iowa | #498 | 41 |
| 8 | Kansas | #511 | 42 |
| 9 | Ohio | #529 | 198 |
| 10 | South Carolina | #536 | 53 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | #831 | 307 |
| 2 | Illinois | #809 | 108 |
| 3 | Georgia | #797 | 102 |
| 4 | North Carolina | #763 | 114 |
| 5 | Michigan | #725 | 81 |
| 6 | Louisiana | #716 | 43 |
| 7 | California | #710 | 448 |
| 8 | Wisconsin | #696 | 51 |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | #695 | 135 |
| 10 | Alabama | #685 | 63 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Kyra in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Famous People Named Kyra
1 notable figure from history and culture who share the name Kyra.
- Kyra Sedgwick — TV Actress (1965)
Looking for names like Kyra?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Kyra to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Kyra against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).