Lara

About Lara

Lara is best known as a Russian short form of Larisa, with an independent namesake in Roman mythology. Its deeper meaning is uncertain, although Larisa may connect with an ancient Greek city name associated with a citadel. Doctor Zhivago and Tomb Raider give Lara two very different modern cultural identities.

Two older traditions

Russian Lara shortens Larisa, a name possibly taken from the ancient city of Larisa in Thessaly. The city's name has been interpreted as “citadel.” Larissa is a common Latinized spelling, and Larysa appears in Ukrainian and other eastern European traditions.

Greek legend also has a nymph called Larisa. The overlapping city, mythological, and saintly histories belong to the longer family behind modern Lara.

A separate Roman Lara is a form of Larunda, a water nymph. Her name may relate to a Greek word for talking or to the Lares, minor guardian gods. That interpretation should remain separate from the proposed citadel connection of Larisa.

In English, Lara is commonly pronounced LAH-ruh, with two syllables and stress on the first. Its four-letter form has an open final vowel and does not require a longer name in everyday use.

Lara in Doctor Zhivago

Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago appeared in 1957, followed by David Lean's film adaptation in 1965. Julie Christie plays Lara in the film, opposite Omar Sharif as Yuri Zhivago.

Zhivago is a doctor and poet whose love for Lara develops amid the upheaval of the Russian Revolution. Their relationship unfolds alongside marriage, displacement, and the pressures of a society being transformed.

The film's broad historical setting and intimate love story helped make Lara familiar to English-speaking audiences. The name's largest American annual count followed in 1969, during the years after the adaptation.

Lara Croft and adventure

Lara Croft first appeared in Tomb Raider in 1996. An archaeologist and adventurer, she searches for ancient secrets and artifacts, placing the name within an action-driven fictional world.

The early games send her across very different settings. Tomb Raider II involves the Dagger of Xian and a journey from Venice to China, while Tomb Raider III follows a search for artifacts connected with a meteorite.

Those adventures made Lara recognizable within video-game culture, distinct from the romantic and historical atmosphere of Doctor Zhivago. The same brief name could belong to both a literary heroine and a resourceful explorer.

Croft's surname is part of the character's identity, but the given name Lara remains central to the series' public image.

American popularity

Lara's largest published annual count and strongest United States ranking for girls came in 1969, with 1,354 births at #223.

There were 262 girls named Lara in 2000 and 301 in 2010. In 2025, 409 girls received it, ranking #693.

Recent use has been lower than the late-1960s peak, while the count has grown from its level at the beginning of the century.

How popular is Lara?

In 2025, Lara ranked #693 among girls in the United States, with 409 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1887; its largest annual count was 1,354 in 1969. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.