How popular is the baby name Shira in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Shira.

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Popularity of the baby name Shira


Posts that mention the name Shira

What influenced the baby name Ovadia in Israel?

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (1920-2013)
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef

According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, the name Ovadia has become trendy in the Middle Eastern country.

Only 36 baby boys in Israel were named Ovadia in 2012. “However, following the death of spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in 2013, 117 babies were given this name and in 2014, 209 newborns were named after the rabbi.”

Influential cleric Ovadia Yosef, who founded the ultra-Orthodox Shas party in the mid-1980s, died in October of 2013 at the age of 93.

The baby name Ovadia — the Hebrew form of Obadiah — also saw a modest increase in usage in the United States during the same time frame:

  • 2015: 9 baby boys named Ovadia
  • 2014: 15 baby boys named Ovadia (6 born in NY)
  • 2013: 11 baby boys named Ovadia (9 born in NY)
  • 2012: unlisted
  • 2011: 5 baby boys named Ovadia (all born in NY)

Despite its trendiness, Ovadia wasn’t popular enough to rank among the top Jewish boy names in Israel in 2014:

Top boy names among JewsTop boy names among Muslims
Noam
Ori/Uri
David
Yosef
Eitan
Itay
Ariel
Daniel
Yonatan
Moshe		Muhammad
Yousef
Omar
Abed
Adam
Ali
Ibrahim
Mahmoud
Amir
Haled

And here are Israel’s top girl names:

Top girl names among JewsTop girl names among Muslims
Noa
Tamar
Shira
Maya
Yael
Adele
Talia
Avigail
Ayala
Sara		Miryam
Jana
Lian
Malak
Aline
Lyn
Nur

Of the 176,427 babies born in Israel in 2014, 136,000 (77.1%) were born into Jewish families and 40,427 (22.9%) were born into Arabic families.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Nomination of the New Chief Rabbis by Dan Hadani collection/National Library of Israel/The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection under CC BY 4.0.

[Latest update: Nov. 2024]

Top Hebrew baby names in Israel, 5775

Flag of Israel
Flag of Israel

According to data from Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, the most popular Jewish baby names in Israel for the Hebrew calendar year 5775 (September 25, 2014, to September 13, 2015) were Tamar and Ori.

The other top names were…

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Tamar
2. Noa
3. Talia
4. Shira
5. Yael
6. Avigayil		1. Ori
2. Eitan
3. Ariel
4. Noam
5. David
6. Yoseph

The top Jewish names for the previous year, 5774, were Tamar and Yosef.

(This list doesn’t include the names of Muslim babies and Christian babies born in Israel.)

Source: 5775: How Many Were Born and What Are the Most Common Names?

Image: Adapted from Flag of Israel (public domain)

Top Hebrew baby names in Israel, 5774

Flag of Israel
Flag of Israel

The top Hebrew baby names in Israel were announced a few days ago.

According to data from the Population and Immigration Authority, the most popular Hebrew baby names for the Hebrew Calendar year 5774 (September 5, 2013, to September 24, 2014) were Tamar and Yosef.

Here are the top ten Hebrew names per gender:

Girl NamesBoy Names
1. Tamar
2. Noa
3. Shira
4. Adele
5. Talya
6. Yael
7. Lian
8. Miriam
9. Maya
10. Avigayil		1. Yosef
2. Daniel
3. Ori
4. Itai
5. Omer
6. Adam
7. Noam
8. Ariel
9. Eitan
10. David

Last year’s top Hebrew names were Noa and Noam, according to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. (Later this year, the CBS will release all 3 sets of baby name rankings: Jewish, Muslim and Christian).

Source: Psst! The most popular boy’s name in Israel in 5774 was really Mohammed

Image: Adapted from Flag of Israel (public domain)

Popular twin names in Israel

Flag of Israel
Flag of Israel

As a follow-up to this morning’s post on baby names in Israel:

The most popular names given to Jewish girls this past year were Noa, Shira and Maya, and Daniel, Uri, Itai, Ido and Noam for boys. The most common pairs of names given to twins were Noam [pleasantness] and Amit [companion]; Ohr [light] and Shir [song]; Hod [glory] and Hadar [splendor]; and Shira [song] and Hodaya [thanks].

Among Arabs, the most common name is Muhammed, given to 13.8% of the boys. The most common Arab twins’ names were Muhammed and Ahmed, Muhammed and Mahmoud, and Mahmoud and Ahmed.

This comes from an article that was published in late 2004, so it’s out of date. Still, I thought it was worth posting as it’s the only twin name data for Israel that I’ve ever come across.

Source: Children in Israel

Image: Adapted from Flag of Israel (public domain)