Lara
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from Russian or Ukrainian. Anglicized from Russian Ла́ра (Lára), a Russian pet form of Larissa, known from the novel (1957) and film (1965) Dr Zhivago.
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Lara (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Lara has been rising over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2022. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 20 |
| 1999 | 12 |
| 2000 | 17 |
| 2001 | 26 |
| 2002 | 27 |
| 2003 | 23 |
| 2004 | 35 |
| 2005 | 49 |
| 2006 | 40 |
| 2007 | 50 |
| 2008 | 57 |
| 2009 | 57 |
| 2010 | 79 |
| 2011 | 56 |
| 2012 | 60 |
| 2013 | 58 |
| 2014 | 64 |
| 2015 | 70 |
| 2016 | 59 |
| 2017 | 58 |
| 2018 | 85 |
| 2019 | 81 |
| 2020 | 70 |
| 2021 | 91 |
| 2022 | 96 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 174 |
| 2000 | 196 |
| 2001 | 231 |
| 2002 | 266 |
| 2003 | 307 |
| 2004 | 341 |
| 2005 | 401 |
| 2006 | 458 |
| 2007 | 523 |
| 2008 | 593 |
| 2009 | 667 |
| 2010 | 761 |
| 2011 | 821 |
| 2012 | 905 |
| 2013 | 993 |
| 2014 | 1,102 |
| 2015 | 1,230 |
| 2016 | 1,347 |
| 2017 | 1,463 |
| 2018 | 1,602 |
| 2019 | 1,719 |
| 2020 | 1,802 |
Lara in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Lara.Hi! My name is Lara.
- Lara bor i Göteborg och pluggar till sjuksköterska.Lara lives in Gothenburg and is training to be a nurse.
- Vet du om Lara kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Lara is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Laras mamma är lärare.Lara's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Laras mamma is Lara's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Lara
How do you pronounce Lara in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Lara in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Lara mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from Russian or Ukrainian. Anglicized from Russian Ла́ра (Lára), a Russian pet form of Larissa, known from the novel (1957) and film (1965) Dr Zhivago.
How popular is Lara in Sweden?
96 babies were named Lara in 2022. In 2020, 1,802 people in Sweden had Lara as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising lately and peaked in 2022 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.