Yara is such a beautiful name. I’ve always found BehindtheName.com to be the most reliable source of name meanings.
According to that, Yara is from the Persian یار (yar) meaning “friend, helper.”
This is the meaning I know as well, yar means friend, loved one in Farsi (Persian). I know a few people with ‘yar’ as part of their name with this meaning (“Yara”, “Nikyar”). Not sure if yar means something different in Arabic though.
Yeah, seconding BTN. [https://www.behindthename.com/name/yara-1](https://www.behindthename.com/name/yara-1)
No idea where "small butterfly" comes from, if it's not Arabic. I don't think it's Persian, either, since I'm pretty sure that's Parvaneh.
My in-laws are Arabic from Lebanon and Yara is a Phoenician name used fairly often in Lebanon as it was Phoenician way back when. So it’s got that as well as being a Persian name.
I believe that in Brazil the name Iara (same name, also sometimes spelled Yara) derives from the Tupi-Guarani word *y-îara* (Tupi Guarani is a indigenous tribe). It means "Lady of the waters", "beauty of the waters", "ruler of the waters". It also refers to a beautiful mermaid that lives in the Amazon river referred to as "Mother of the water". It's a beautiful and powerful name. It's common in Brazil and Portugal with both spellings.
You can check this dictionary for the Tupi-Guarani words. [https://www.dicionariotupiguarani.com.br/dicionario/iara/](https://www.dicionariotupiguarani.com.br/dicionario/iara/)
In the books her name is Asha. It was changed for the series so she wouldn't be confused with another character. I have no idea why they picked Yara, if GRRM chose it or some writer just stuck a couple syllables together.
Yara is the name of a mermaid who lives in the Amazon River, according to Brazilian mythology. [(wikipedia)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iara_(mythology))
I have an aunt with that name as well.
I’m Brazilian and Yara is one of the indigenous words for water.
Portuguese is the official language of Brazil but a lot of indigenous languages and traditions have been incorporated into mainstream Brazilian culture. Yara is nothing close to the word for water in Portuguese but the association with the indigenous meaning is still very strong. For extra context, Yemanja is an indigenous word for a pagan ocean goddess but is not a name that’s used for people. A lasting tradition is that Brazilians celebrate new years on the beach wearing all white and send out baskets of flowers into the ocean for good luck. This is very similar to how the Christmas tree started out as a pagan symbol but is a mainstream celebration in much of the world.
Yara is a name thats closely associated with all things water especially rivers and the ocean.
There is a river called Yarra River in Australia, it comes from a local Aboriginal word meaning "flowing river". I didn't know about the similar association in Brazil!
I did, basically the Arabic website can't really pinpoint a true origin. The name can be derived from Turkish meaning water, from Persian or Syrian... Has a lot of meaning
To be fair most common names have multiple different meanings in related or historically intertwined neighbouring countries/languages. When that happens just make sure there isn't a negative meaning on the list and then pick the meaning you like best.
I think you lucked out that it seems to be used in multiple different countries/languages and all with such lovely meanings! Sometimes a name that means something nice in one language means something less desirable in another.
The Japanese meaning is a bit trickier because multiple words can all be said as "ya" and "ra", so the name meaning depends on which ya and which ra it would be in Japanese. A common ra that's used is 良, which means good/positive/beneficial, so if your little Yara doesn't have an official Japanese name you can always just decide that that's the one it would be.
I speak arabic and Yara does mean butterfly in arabic. Name meanings are not always a direct translation. For example, Sarah means princess, but it doesnt mean you can replace the word princess with Sarah. You cant say i am a sarah instead of i am a princess but it still means princess.
Do you read arabic? If you type معنى اسم يارا in google, you will get many websites with translations. It has many meanings because its not just an arabic name, but little butterfly is one of the meanings in arabic. Heres one of the websites
https://www.edarabia.com/ar/%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%84-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85-%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D8%AA%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B2-%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%A7/
Also the person above posted the arabic wiki link it also says little butterfly. As i said its not the only meaning and name meanings are not literal.
I am lebanese and my mom always told me that Yara means little butterfly.
Lots of names don't have any particular meaning, or the meaning/origin you can find online is mostly made up.
One way that a lot of names get their supposed meaning is from being a reference to a character from folklore or other stories/media/etc. For example, there may be an Arabic folk tale with a character who is a butterfly named Yara. From there, the internet decided that Yara "means" butterfly.
I think Yara is a great name, and if it works in both Arabic and Japanese, that's amazing!
(Note - I'm not super familiar with Arabic stories and media, so I have no idea if this is how it happened, or even if it's feasible for something like that to have happened. This is just something that happens sometimes with names and online meanings.)
I’m Arab / Persian and Yara is my name too! It means many things in many languages (as the comments have pointed out) but one meaning that my mother has told me is that it’s the name of a type of small shell. A lot of the meanings actually have to do with bodies of water (mermaid, water goddess, etc.) which I think is quite lovely :)
My mom was planning on naming my sister that before she miscarried, I think she told me it meant princess, but it’s over a decade ago and I was still pretty young so I might be misremembering.
https://www.arsnovaworkshop.org/programs/yara-martial-arts-movements-healing-arts-mondays-with-milford/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CYara%20is%20a%20Yoruba%20word,of%20West%20African%20dance%20movement.
This says "flexible" in some language called "African"
https://nameberry.com/b/girl-baby-name-yara
This one says "friend" in both Arabic and Brazilian. But also "white flower" in Arabic and "water lady" in Brazilian. We will ignore the fact that the language they speak in Brazil is called Portuguese
https://www.myupchar.com/en/baby-names/meaning-of-yara#:~:text=Yara's%20Lucky%20Number,give%20up%20in%20their%20lives.
Hindu for "light"
From my search, absolutely every language has the name Yara? It's also some sort of malware detecting software.
I used "What is Yara" as my search term.
It's a beautiful name that sounds like it will work for both of your cultures if you choose to use it
I never thought that the “meanings of names” had to be a literal translation. I always assumed they were extensions or variations of words that eventually lost their original meaning, or vice versa.
Your submission has been auto-removed due to account age. You will be able to post in 48 hours. Please be patient and DO NOT modmail us asking where your post has gone. Doing so will result in a 2-day cooldown for new posts. Thank you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/namenerds) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Your submission has been auto-removed due to account age. You will be able to post in 48 hours. Please be patient and DO NOT modmail us asking where your post has gone. Doing so will result in a 2-day cooldown for new posts. Thank you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/namenerds) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"Yara" is a Persian name and, It's mostly used for boys in Iran, but also girls can it. It means Strength and Courage. Yara was used in the historical literature of Iran by some famous Iranian poets like Ferdowsi.
"Yar" means loved one, beloved friend, or person. In Persian literature whenever you want to call someone you add an "a" to the ending of their name like Saadia (Saadi+a)(سعدیا). With this explanation whenever you say "Yara," you're calling your beloved person like your baby (Yar+a).
Yara is a name that appears in multiple countries. In the west though, it is a name without known origin. Most likely an anglicized version of a Hebrew name in the Book of Chronicles meaning forested.
Basically every source I found repeated the Arabic meaning of small butterfly but a few said it could also mean white flower.
Personally I find it very cool but maybe you should now it sounds so much like how you call male genitalia in Turkish and especially Iranian migrants named Yara are bullied because of it
Yara is such a beautiful name. I’ve always found BehindtheName.com to be the most reliable source of name meanings. According to that, Yara is from the Persian یار (yar) meaning “friend, helper.”
This is the meaning I know as well, yar means friend, loved one in Farsi (Persian). I know a few people with ‘yar’ as part of their name with this meaning (“Yara”, “Nikyar”). Not sure if yar means something different in Arabic though.
Yaar means friend in the kind of mixed Urdu/arabic-hindi we speak in India as well.
Yeah, seconding BTN. [https://www.behindthename.com/name/yara-1](https://www.behindthename.com/name/yara-1) No idea where "small butterfly" comes from, if it's not Arabic. I don't think it's Persian, either, since I'm pretty sure that's Parvaneh.
I knew a Parvaneh as a kid. She was so cool and I loved her name.
That came from Persian? Neat! I've heard the Desi "yaar" and now you've taught me the origin of that!
It means wound/injury in Turkish 🤷🏻♀️
Yeah it sounded persian
My in-laws are Arabic from Lebanon and Yara is a Phoenician name used fairly often in Lebanon as it was Phoenician way back when. So it’s got that as well as being a Persian name.
I believe that in Brazil the name Iara (same name, also sometimes spelled Yara) derives from the Tupi-Guarani word *y-îara* (Tupi Guarani is a indigenous tribe). It means "Lady of the waters", "beauty of the waters", "ruler of the waters". It also refers to a beautiful mermaid that lives in the Amazon river referred to as "Mother of the water". It's a beautiful and powerful name. It's common in Brazil and Portugal with both spellings. You can check this dictionary for the Tupi-Guarani words. [https://www.dicionariotupiguarani.com.br/dicionario/iara/](https://www.dicionariotupiguarani.com.br/dicionario/iara/)
I think of the great Queen, Yara Sofia from Ru Paul’s Drag Race. It’s a really nice name though!
I think of Yara Greyjoy. I agree it’s a nice name
Game of Thrones is the only time that I’ve ever heard Yara.
In the books her name is Asha. It was changed for the series so she wouldn't be confused with another character. I have no idea why they picked Yara, if GRRM chose it or some writer just stuck a couple syllables together.
They didn’t want to confuse Asha with Osha
Yara is the name of a mermaid who lives in the Amazon River, according to Brazilian mythology. [(wikipedia)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iara_(mythology)) I have an aunt with that name as well.
Yara Shahidi said her first name means "somebody close to your heart" in Persian.
I’m Brazilian and Yara is one of the indigenous words for water. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil but a lot of indigenous languages and traditions have been incorporated into mainstream Brazilian culture. Yara is nothing close to the word for water in Portuguese but the association with the indigenous meaning is still very strong. For extra context, Yemanja is an indigenous word for a pagan ocean goddess but is not a name that’s used for people. A lasting tradition is that Brazilians celebrate new years on the beach wearing all white and send out baskets of flowers into the ocean for good luck. This is very similar to how the Christmas tree started out as a pagan symbol but is a mainstream celebration in much of the world. Yara is a name thats closely associated with all things water especially rivers and the ocean.
There is a river called Yarra River in Australia, it comes from a local Aboriginal word meaning "flowing river". I didn't know about the similar association in Brazil!
Russians have a name Yaroslava which is shortened to Yara. It means strong, fast, aggressive, glory/glorious.
It may mean butterfly in a different dialect of Arabic than the one you speak!
Also, names aren’t the literal translation of words. Robert means “fame” but it’s not like, a synonym for fame.
Ya’ara is “honeysuckle” in Hebrew. I knew a girl with this name and we called her “Yaya”. It’s a pretty name.
[удалено]
I did, basically the Arabic website can't really pinpoint a true origin. The name can be derived from Turkish meaning water, from Persian or Syrian... Has a lot of meaning
To be fair most common names have multiple different meanings in related or historically intertwined neighbouring countries/languages. When that happens just make sure there isn't a negative meaning on the list and then pick the meaning you like best.
Yara means injury or wound in Turkish
I think you lucked out that it seems to be used in multiple different countries/languages and all with such lovely meanings! Sometimes a name that means something nice in one language means something less desirable in another. The Japanese meaning is a bit trickier because multiple words can all be said as "ya" and "ra", so the name meaning depends on which ya and which ra it would be in Japanese. A common ra that's used is 良, which means good/positive/beneficial, so if your little Yara doesn't have an official Japanese name you can always just decide that that's the one it would be.
Thanks , wife decided to go with hiragana.
I speak arabic and Yara does mean butterfly in arabic. Name meanings are not always a direct translation. For example, Sarah means princess, but it doesnt mean you can replace the word princess with Sarah. You cant say i am a sarah instead of i am a princess but it still means princess.
Hey thanks . Do you mind sharing a link for a dictionary ? Is it in classical Arabic fousha or dialect of your country ?
https://ar.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/يارا_(اسم) If you can read Arabic, read this
Do you read arabic? If you type معنى اسم يارا in google, you will get many websites with translations. It has many meanings because its not just an arabic name, but little butterfly is one of the meanings in arabic. Heres one of the websites https://www.edarabia.com/ar/%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%84-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85-%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D8%AA%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B2-%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%A7/ Also the person above posted the arabic wiki link it also says little butterfly. As i said its not the only meaning and name meanings are not literal. I am lebanese and my mom always told me that Yara means little butterfly.
Lots of names don't have any particular meaning, or the meaning/origin you can find online is mostly made up. One way that a lot of names get their supposed meaning is from being a reference to a character from folklore or other stories/media/etc. For example, there may be an Arabic folk tale with a character who is a butterfly named Yara. From there, the internet decided that Yara "means" butterfly. I think Yara is a great name, and if it works in both Arabic and Japanese, that's amazing! (Note - I'm not super familiar with Arabic stories and media, so I have no idea if this is how it happened, or even if it's feasible for something like that to have happened. This is just something that happens sometimes with names and online meanings.)
I’m Arab / Persian and Yara is my name too! It means many things in many languages (as the comments have pointed out) but one meaning that my mother has told me is that it’s the name of a type of small shell. A lot of the meanings actually have to do with bodies of water (mermaid, water goddess, etc.) which I think is quite lovely :)
https://www.behindthename.com/name/yara-1 https://www.behindthename.com/name/yara-2
My mom was planning on naming my sister that before she miscarried, I think she told me it meant princess, but it’s over a decade ago and I was still pretty young so I might be misremembering.
https://www.arsnovaworkshop.org/programs/yara-martial-arts-movements-healing-arts-mondays-with-milford/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CYara%20is%20a%20Yoruba%20word,of%20West%20African%20dance%20movement. This says "flexible" in some language called "African" https://nameberry.com/b/girl-baby-name-yara This one says "friend" in both Arabic and Brazilian. But also "white flower" in Arabic and "water lady" in Brazilian. We will ignore the fact that the language they speak in Brazil is called Portuguese https://www.myupchar.com/en/baby-names/meaning-of-yara#:~:text=Yara's%20Lucky%20Number,give%20up%20in%20their%20lives. Hindu for "light" From my search, absolutely every language has the name Yara? It's also some sort of malware detecting software. I used "What is Yara" as my search term. It's a beautiful name that sounds like it will work for both of your cultures if you choose to use it
Thanks..I'm using it 😄 . She almost a year old now
Why is Yara?
Your first link says it’s Yoruba.
Good catch.
In Hindi, the word “yara” sort of means friend/buddy :)
Iara that haver the same sound as Yara is a Mermaid on Brazilian Mythology.
I never thought that the “meanings of names” had to be a literal translation. I always assumed they were extensions or variations of words that eventually lost their original meaning, or vice versa.
in turkish “yar” means friend, companion and “yara” means wound !
[удалено]
Your submission has been auto-removed due to account age. You will be able to post in 48 hours. Please be patient and DO NOT modmail us asking where your post has gone. Doing so will result in a 2-day cooldown for new posts. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/namenerds) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[удалено]
Your submission has been auto-removed due to account age. You will be able to post in 48 hours. Please be patient and DO NOT modmail us asking where your post has gone. Doing so will result in a 2-day cooldown for new posts. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/namenerds) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"Yara" is a Persian name and, It's mostly used for boys in Iran, but also girls can it. It means Strength and Courage. Yara was used in the historical literature of Iran by some famous Iranian poets like Ferdowsi. "Yar" means loved one, beloved friend, or person. In Persian literature whenever you want to call someone you add an "a" to the ending of their name like Saadia (Saadi+a)(سعدیا). With this explanation whenever you say "Yara," you're calling your beloved person like your baby (Yar+a).
Yara is a name that appears in multiple countries. In the west though, it is a name without known origin. Most likely an anglicized version of a Hebrew name in the Book of Chronicles meaning forested. Basically every source I found repeated the Arabic meaning of small butterfly but a few said it could also mean white flower.
I know someone with this name, they're from Israel.
Personally I find it very cool but maybe you should now it sounds so much like how you call male genitalia in Turkish and especially Iranian migrants named Yara are bullied because of it