Given name & surname · also Southern Altai
Kayra
Kayra is a masculine given name, possibly from Southern Altai, ultimately from Arabic. It is used in Turkish.
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
Kayra possibly comes from Southern Altai, and ultimately from Arabic.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1977. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Kayra through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 871
- 41 boys · 830 girls
- Most popular year
- 2023
- 55 babies
- 2025
- 37
- #4,496 for girls · #11,355 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +49%
- Rising
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 31 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 4,496 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 30.5% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. It also appeared in 6 birth records for boys in 2025. In 2025, Florida had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (8). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 766 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Kayra’s family of names
In Turkish usage, Kayra shares an earlier linguistic root with Hayır.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Kayra
- Kayra ÖzdemirTurkish-French judoka (born 1988)
- Kayra ZabcıTurkish actor and fashion model (born 2001)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Kayra, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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