Lara
Barely present in Poland a generation ago, Lara has surfaced as an emerging name: given to close to 200 newborn girls last year, always to girls. Latin at root, it carries the sense of "protection".
Lara Pronunciation
Lara is pronounced LAH-rah (/ˈlara/).
What Lara means
Where Lara comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Lara comes from Latin, and its oldest thread runs back to the Lares, the household gods that Roman families kept near the hearth. Those spirits guarded the home and everyone inside it. From that root the name gathered its short meaning, protection, and in Polish the fuller sense of opiekunka domowego ogniska, the keeper of the family hearth.
Lara is brief. Two syllables settle quickly onto a register in a school class. The name also travels in longer forms: Larissa and Larysa stretch it out, and both remain in Polish use today.
The link to the Lares was likely strengthened over time by scholars who read the name back into Roman myth. What reaches a child now is simpler. A girl named Lara carries a Latin word for protection and a Polish phrase for the guardian of the hearth.
How many people are named Lara
1 in 8834 women in Poland is named Lara. 2,552 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #628 among female names.
Lara's popularity over time
193 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #190 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2001.
Where Lara is most popular
Lara is most popular in Opole, 91% above the national average (61 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Lubusz (+66%) and West Pomeranian (+42%). It is least common in Podlaskie and Lublin, 52% and 41% below average respectively.
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Opole61 girls born+91%
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Lubusz57 girls born+66%
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West Pomeranian83 girls born+42%
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Silesian176 girls born+12%
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Lower Silesian121 girls born+11%
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Pomeranian106 girls born+4%
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Masovian252 girls born+3%
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Lesser Poland160 girls born+2%
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Greater Poland145 girls born−3%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian70 girls born−7%
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Subcarpathian70 girls born−16%
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Łódź74 girls born−16%
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Warmian-Masurian32 girls born−36%
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Świętokrzyskie24 girls born−37%
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Lublin42 girls born−41%
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Podlaskie22 girls born−52%
Lara as a middle name
Lara is a first name for 2,552 women in Poland and a middle name for another 377, an 87/13 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 350th, between Irma (380) and Leonia (373).
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348
381Lucia
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349
380Irma
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350377Lara
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351
373Leonia
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352
369Zoja