Ara Name Meaning, Origin & Popularity

About Ara

Ara is a unique boys' name that one of the most melodious in the Armenian name pool, familiarized by Notre Dame football coach Ara Parseghian. In Armenian mythology, Ara was a king so handsome that a rival queen went to war in order to make him her own. The name Ara is also known in the Arabic and Hebrew cultures.

Ara for girls#3255 US

Simple and yet distinctive, Ara is a mythological name of a famously handsome king. Although it originated as a boys' name, in the contemporary US, it's now much more commonly used for girls.

Ara was one of the many vowel-heavy two-syllable names popular at the end of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth--it went as high as Number 481 in 1884. It's also used as a nickname for Arabella.

Pronounced AHR-uh.

As of November 2026, Ara ranked #7714 for boys and #3255 for girls in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #1041 for boys in 1893 and #481 for girls in 1884, Nameberry popularity #796 for boys.

Popularity & trends

US popularity — history

US rank, lower is more popular · SSA data 2014–2025

Boys #4,890

Girls #3,255

20142025

18802025

Data table

Year	US rank · boys	Births · boys	US rank · girls	Births · girls
2014	—	0	#3,278	49
2015	—	0	#3,304	49
2016	—	0	#3,105	53
2017	—	0	#2,747	62
2018	—	0	#2,751	62
2019	—	0	#3,004	54
2020	—	0	#2,932	55
2021	—	0	#2,387	75
2022	—	0	#2,364	78
2023	#4,890	20	#3,140	52
2024	—	0	#3,116	51
2025	—	0	#3,255	48