Dara is a

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a ...

used for both males and females, with more than one origin. Dara is found in the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

Books of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sec ...

. Dara �רעwas a descendant of

Judah (son of Jacob) Judah () was, according to the Book of Genesis, the fourth of the six sons of Jacob and Leah and the founder of the Tribe of Judah of the Israelites. By extension, he is indirectly the eponym of the Kingdom of Judah, the land of Judea, and ...

. (The Bible. 1 Chronicles 2:6). Dara (also known as Darda דרדע) was one of four men noted for great wisdom, but exceeded by King Solomon (1 Kings 4:31). In Persian Dara (Persian: دارا) is a masculine name and a variant of Darius. In contemporary Persian, it means "rich", "well-off" and "well-to-do". In

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Dara means compassion or pearl of wisdom. In Urdu, the name is given to baby boys and its meaning is "Possessor" or "sovereign" and "Halo"(of the moon). It can also mean "sovereign" or "lord", a meaning shared with the Sikh language. In Parsi, Dara means "Bell" or "Pendant" In Kazakh, the name means special, one of a kind, only one, and is a feminine name. In old

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

and

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Ma ...

and Serbian language (Serbia), Dara means Gift, or to give a gift, its meaning directly derives from "dar", which means "gift". In Khmer, Thai and Lao, Dara is a unisex name meaning "star". In

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

, Dara means "leader". In Irish, Dara can mean either "oak" or "wise". Dara is also frequently used in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

(and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

), as either a masculine or a feminine

, and it also occurs as a

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

. The spelling varies, with variations including Daire, Darragh and Daragh. The Irish form is probably derived from ''doire'', the Irish word for "oak tree", though as a surname it may be a version of the Irish name ''Mac Dubhdara''. In Irish and

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

, ''dara'' means "second". In Javanese, Dara (in which the letters A are pronounced /ɔ/ by the majority of the speakers, slightly like the pronunciation of the letter å in Danish and Norwegian) means "dove" or "pigeon". Because of the tone mark in Yoruba Language, Dara is also a short form of Oluwashindara which means "Wonder" (God still does wonder). In Indonesian, Dara means "girl", "young woman", or "virgin". As indicated by these meanings, Dara is a feminine name in Indonesian. The word "Odara" derives from the Brazilian indigenous Ioruba word dara, meaning "gorgeous." In African-American culture, the name Dara is of Bermudian origin, also meaning "beautiful". In

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

, Dara means "come". In Gujarati Dara means "every one" In the Swahili version Dara also means "the beautiful one".

People

* Dara, South Korean singer, actress and TV presenter, real name Sandara Park * Dara Calleary, Irish politician * Dara Fitzpatrick, Irish Helicopter Pilot * Dara Hayes, birth name of the Australian DJ Tigerlily *

Dara Horn Dara Horn (born 1977) is a Jewish American novelist, essayist, and professor of literature. She has written five novels and in 2021, released a nonfiction essay collection titled ''People Love Dead Jews'', which was a finalist for the 2021 Kirkus ...

, U S novelist *

Dara Murphy Dara Murphy (born 2 December 1969) is a former Irish Fine Gael politician who served as a Minister of State from 2014 to 2017 and Lord Mayor of Cork from 2009 to 2010. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork North-Central constituency fr ...

, Irish politician * Dara Nusserwanji Khurody (1906–1983), Indian dairy entrepreneur * Darashaw Nosherwan Wadia (1883–1969), Indian geologist * Dara Ó Briain, Irish comedian and TV presenter *

Dara O'Shea Dara Joseph O'Shea (born 4 March 1999) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for club West Bromwich Albion and the Republic of Ireland national team. Club career Born in Dublin, O'Shea began his career at St. Kevin's ...

, Irish Association Football Player *

Dara Rasmi Dara Rasami (; th, ดารารัศมี, , , August 26, 1873 – December 9, 1933), was a princess of Chiang Mai and Siam (later Thailand) and the daughter of King Inthawichayanon, Inthawichayanon of Chiang Mai and Que ...

, princess of Chiang Mai *

Dara Reneé Dara Reneé (born November 7, 2000) is an American actress whose roles include Kourtney Greene in the Disney+ mockumentary series '' High School Musical: The Musical: The Series''. Early life Reneé was born in Los Angeles, California, and ra ...

, American actress *

Dara Khosrowshahi Dara Khosrowshahi ( fa, دارا خسروشاهی, ; born May 28, 1969) is an Iranian-American businessman and the chief executive officer of Uber. Khosrowshahi was previously CEO of Expedia Group, a company that owns several travel fare aggreg ...

Iranian-American Iranian Americans are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry or who hold Iranian citizenship. Iranian Americans are among the most highly educated people in the United States. They have historically excelled in busine ...

businessman, CEO of

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery ( Uber Eats and Postmates), pa ...

Dara Rolins Dara Rolins (born 7 December 1972) is a Slovak recording artist and entrepreneur. Her music career began at the age of nine, after being cast in the television musical ''Zázračný autobus'' (1981). The early role established a formula for her ...

, Slovak recording artist *

Dara Shikoh Dara Shikoh ( fa, ), also known as Dara Shukoh, (20 March 1615 – 30 August 1659) was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Dara was designated with the title ''Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba'' ("Prince of High Rank ...

, Indian prince *

Dara Singh Dara Singh Randhawa (born Deedar Singh Randhawa; 19 November 1928 – 12 July 2012) was an Indian professional wrestler, actor, director and politician. He started acting in 1952 and was the first sportsman to be nominated to the Rajya S ...

, Indian professional wrestler *

Dara Singh (Bajrang Dal) Dara Singh (born Rabindra Kumar Pal; 2 October 1962) is an Indian convicted murderer and a Bajrang Dal activist. He was previously a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was convicted for leading a mob and setting fire to the Station wagon ...

, serial killer * Dara Strolovitch, political scientist from United States of America * Dara Torres, U S swimmer

Fictional characters

* Sumerian God

Enki , image = Enki(Ea).jpg , caption = Detail of Enki from the Adda Seal, an ancient Akkadian cylinder seal dating to circa 2300 BC , deity_of = God of creation, intelligence, crafts, water, seawater, lakewater, fertility, semen, magic, mischief ...

was also known as "Dara-Mah" * Dara is a young elf from the tv show Witcher. * Dara is a gypsy from the brazilian novel

Explode Coração ''Explode Coração'' is a Brazilian telenovela produced by TV Globo. The series aired between 6 November 1995 and 4 May 1996, with a total of 155 episodes. It was written entirely by Glória Perez and directed by Ary Coslov, Gracie, and Carlos ...

* Dara is an elder from Caer Pelyn village from Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones * Dara Shirazi, protagonist of the book The Electric Heir.

Other meanings

*Dara is a

gotra In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotra ...

(clan) of certain

Jats The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...

and

Punjabis The Punjabis (Punjabi: ; ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ; romanised as Panjābīs), are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of eastern Pakistan and northwestern India. ...

found in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. Members of the Dara gotra are found mainly in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

(majority),

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

and

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

in India. Dara mostly belong to the

Khatri Khatri is a caste of the Indian subcontinent that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the subcontinent, they were mostly engaged in mercantilistic professions such as banking and trade, they were the d ...

caste. *In the Sudan, it is also known as Gbaya-Dara, a Central Sudan language of South Sudan. It is one of the Kresh Languages. Though it is commonly called Gbaya, it is not one of the Abaya languages, which are in the Ubangian family. *In

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Darius. *In

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

, Dara's word (dAra) means thread. *It is the name of a male doll, and Dara and Sara are sold as "Iran's alternative to Ken and Barbie". It is the descendant of the

Old Persian Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as ( ...

name ''Darayaush'' ( Darius) * In Meranau Dara is a Blood.{{citation needed, date=December 2015 * In ancient Sumerian language, Babylonian-Akkadian Cuneiform Tablet writing Dara means "blood" Secrets of the Sumerian Language 2012

References

Given names

People

Fictional characters

Other meanings

See also

References