Mara

femaleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Mara: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Mara: Recorded every year since 1996, its highest recorded position is #102, and it stood at #325 in 2025.

4registrars recorded it
51times a registrar ranked it
30years from first to last
#102highest recorded position
9groupings it qualifies for

Region

Rising

among girls in England and Wales · 1996–2024

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
1996	#1434
1997	#1365
1998	#1823
1999	#1473
2000	#1688
2001	#1520
2002	#1658
2003	#1722
2004	#1383
2005	#2084
2006	#1243
2007	#1296
2008	#1247
2009	#1325
2010	#1520
2011	#1295
2012	#1075
2013	#900
2014	#907
2015	#831
2016	#605
2017	#740
2018	#587
2019	#432
2020	#505
2021	#449
2022	#526
2023	#516
2024	#369

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

RisingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among girls in England and Wales in every year from 1996 to 2024.

In 2024: #102 among girls in Scotland, #223 among girls in Republic of Ireland, #337 among girls in Northern Ireland, #369 among girls in England and Wales.

Official data from 4 national registrars across 4 regions, 1996–2025 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1996
First recorded at #1434 among girls in England and Wales in 1996 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Girls
Most recent2025
Most recently recorded at #325 among girls in Republic of Ireland, in 2025.
Republic of Ireland · Girls

Mara appears in 3 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Girls, which has ranked it in 29 years beginning in 1996, and has registered 1,141 births with the name.

Mara across 3 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Mara's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
England and Wales · Girls	#1434 (1996)	#369 (2024)	#369 (2024)	29 of 29	1,141 (1996–2024)	118 (2024)
Republic of Ireland · Girls	#511 (2004)	#223 (2024)	#325 (2025)	16 of 22	133 (2004–2025)	19 (2024)
Northern Ireland · Girls	#361 (2018)	#328 (2023)	#337 (2024)	5 of 7	20 (2018–2024)	4 (2018)

Mara by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Mara in England and Wales · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	46	4 of 10	12
2000s	157	10 of 10	16
2010s	493	10 of 10	49
2020sbusiest	445	5 of 10	89

Across England and Wales · Girls, the 2020s were its busiest decade — the 5 years of it this list covers, averaging 89 births a year.

Its sharpest single-year move came between 2023 and 2024, when recorded births rose by 42, from 76 to 118.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Mara appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Official popularity data is available for 4 regions, from 1996 to 2025. Highest recorded position: #102 in Scotland in 2024.

Mara's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2024	England and Wales	female	#369	118	High	Verified
2023	England and Wales	female	#516	76	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	female	#526	74	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	female	#449	97	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	female	#505	80	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	female	#432	97	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	female	#587	70	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	female	#740	54	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	female	#605	70	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	female	#831	45	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	female	#907	41	High	Verified
2013	England and Wales	female	#900	41	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	female	#1075	32	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	female	#1295	24	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	female	#1520	19	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	female	#1325	22	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	female	#1247	23	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	female	#1296	21	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	female	#1243	21	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	female	#2084	10	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	female	#1383	16	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	female	#1722	11	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	female	#1658	11	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	female	#1520	12	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	female	#1688	10	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	female	#1473	12	High	Verified
1998	England and Wales	female	#1823	9	High	Verified
1997	England and Wales	female	#1365	13	High	Verified
1996	England and Wales	female	#1434	12	High	Verified
2024	Northern Ireland	female	#337	4	High	Verified
2023	Northern Ireland	female	#328	4	High	Verified
2020	Northern Ireland	female	#333	4	High	Verified
2019	Northern Ireland	female	#336	4	High	Verified
2018	Northern Ireland	female	#361	4	High	Verified
2025	Republic of Ireland	female	#325	12	High	Verified
2024	Republic of Ireland	female	#223	19	High	Verified
2023	Republic of Ireland	female	#404	9	High	Verified
2022	Republic of Ireland	female	#357	11	High	Verified
2021	Republic of Ireland	female	#284	15	High	Verified
2020	Republic of Ireland	female	#444	8	High	Verified
2019	Republic of Ireland	female	#716	4	High	Verified
2018	Republic of Ireland	female	#336	13	High	Verified
2017	Republic of Ireland	female	#471	8	High	Verified
2016	Republic of Ireland	female	#448	9	High	Verified
2015	Republic of Ireland	female	#660	5	High	Verified
2014	Republic of Ireland	female	#876	3	High	Verified
2013	Republic of Ireland	female	#894	3	High	Verified
2012	Republic of Ireland	female	#677	5	High	Verified
2006	Republic of Ireland	female	#635	4	High	Verified
2004	Republic of Ireland	female	#511	5	High	Verified
2024	Scotland	female	#102	42	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
Northern Ireland hub — collected by NISRA
Republic of Ireland hub — collected by CSO Ireland
Scotland hub — collected by National Records of Scotland

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 4 registrars between 1996 and 2025, ranked in 30 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #102, first reached in 2024.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 118 births, registered in England and Wales in 2024.

A second registrar first ranked it in 2004, and 28 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Manvir · #887, 29y
Maple · #790, 16y
Marah · #3447, 11y
Maram · #871, 25y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 4 registrars, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Esmae · #102, 29y
Flora · #102, 30y
Caiden · #103, 29y
Amaya · #104, 29y

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1990 and 1999.

Eirinn · #102, 26y
Esmae · #102, 29y
Flora · #102, 30y
Caiden · #103, 29y

Mara was ranked #102 in Scotland · Girls in 2024. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Mara and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Mara without appearing here.

Mara moved ahead of

Brittany Compare
In 2005 they stood at #2084 and #1500 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2006 that had become #1243 and #3548.
Pauline Compare
In 2005 they stood at #2084 and #1796 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2006 that had become #1243 and #3548.
Carmel Compare
In 2011 they stood at #1295 and #1196 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2012 that had become #1075 and #2095.
Helene Compare
In 1998 they stood at #1823 and #1823 in England and Wales · Girls; by 1999 that had become #1473 and #2444.

Moved ahead of Mara

Ada Compare
In 2004 they stood at #1383 and #1617 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2005 that had become #2084 and #951.
Alma Compare
In 2004 they stood at #1383 and #1535 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2005 that had become #2084 and #1500.
Hanna Compare
In 2011 they stood at #511 and #576 in Republic of Ireland · Girls; by 2012 that had become #677 and #97.
Éala Compare
In 2018 they stood at #336 and #411 in Republic of Ireland · Girls; by 2019 that had become #716 and #180.

Moved the opposite way to Mara

Abigail Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Mara went from #1434 to #369 while Abigail went from #21 to #154.
Aimee Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Mara went from #1434 to #369 while Aimee went from #70 to #1603.
Aisling Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Mara went from #1434 to #369 while Aisling went from #440 to #2000.
Alex Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Mara went from #1434 to #369 while Alex went from #161 to #2253.

Moved the same way as Mara

Ada Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Mara went from #1434 to #369 and Ada from #2683 to #40.
Alma Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Mara went from #1434 to #369 and Alma from #2096 to #234.
Alyssa Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Mara went from #1434 to #369 and Alyssa from #783 to #285.
Amalie Compare
Between 1996 and 2024 in England and Wales · Girls, Mara went from #1434 to #369 and Amalie from #2096 to #1128.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Official popularity data is available for 4 regions, from 1996 to 2025. Highest recorded position: #102 in Scotland in 2024. Source data last verified 2026-07-21.

Mara

Mara at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Mara across 3 official records

Mara by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Mara appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Mara

Mara and the names beside it

Mara moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Mara

Moved the opposite way to Mara

Moved the same way as Mara

Mara at a glance

Mara across 3 official records

Mara by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Mara appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Mara

Mara and the names beside it

Mara moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Mara

Moved the opposite way to Mara

Moved the same way as Mara