Boy
Ira
As a boy's name, Ira is understood to mean "watchful, alert". It is not as common as it was in the 1920s, though it has not disappeared. Today, it is comfortably in the mainstream in the registry. It has appeared in U.S. birth records in nearly every decade since 1900, a genuinely long run.
HebrewHebrew
EtymologyMeaning "watchful, alert"
Births by decade
1900s
2,073
1910s
6,767
1920s
8,811
1930s
6,494
1940s
7,812
1950s
7,576
1960s
4,729
1970s
3,299
1980s
2,246
1990s
1,280
2000s
1,197
2010s
2,007
Peaked in the 1920s · 54,291 total U.S. births since 1900