Keira

Meaning of Keira

Keira, pronounced KEER-uh, is chiefly the Anglicised form of the medieval Gaelic Ciara—drawn from ciar, “dark”—and thus conveys the poetic sense of “little dark one”; yet its phonetic kinship with Greek Kyra (“lady”), Persian-Slavic Kira (“sun”), and even the Latin cura (“care”) grants the name a multilingual chiaroscuro that situates it, as the ancients would say, inter lucem et umbram, between light and shade. In the United States its statistical arc resembles a parabola: scarcely visible through the late twentieth century, it surged after 2003, reached a zenith at rank 108 in 2006—an ascent often linked to the cinematic visibility of actress Keira Knightley—and has since eased to rank 506 in 2024. This rhythmic rise and retreat illustrates how the name absorbs and reflects cultural tides while preserving its Celtic integrity. Parents drawn to Keira frequently cite its international adaptability, its equilibrium of soft vowel cadence and resolute consonant frame, and the subtle scholarly aura borne by a nomen that whispers, in true Latin fashion, nomen est omen—“the name is a sign.”

Pronunciation

English

• Pronunced as KEER-uh (/ˈkɪərə/)

• Kyra
• Kiera
• Kira
• Kiara