Sierra - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 3 syll. sier-ra, si-e-rra ] The girl name Sierra is pronounced SiyEHRah ^KEY. Sierra has its origins in the Spanish language and it is used largely in English. Literally from the element sierra which has the meaning 'mountain range'. The name is derived from the Spanish word 'sierra', in reference to a mountain range with jagged peaks, and favored for its allusion to the beauty of nature. It has recently been adopted by English speakers, and its use promoted in the USA after the Ciara brand of perfume was introduced by Revlon in 1973. Although the forms starting with 'C-' are pronounced with a hard 'K-' in Irish, the influence of the perfume brand, which is pronounced like Sierra, has led to many US speakers using the soft 'C-' pronunciation. In the USA, the Sierra Club is also well-known as the largest grassroots environmental organization.

Sierra has 17 variants. Variants of Sierra include Ceara (used in Irish as well), Cearra, Ciara (used in Irish as well), Ciera (used in Irish as well), Cierra, Seara, Searria, Seiarra, Seira, Seirra, Siara, Siarah, Siarra, Sieara, Siearra, Sieria, and Sierre.

Sierra is popular as a baby name for girls. The name's popularity has been increasing since the 1970s; before that, it was of only very modest use. At the height of its usage in 1998, 0.302% of baby girls were named Sierra. Its ranking then was #51. In 2007, it ranked at #168 with a usage of 0.100%, and it was the most popular within all girl names in its group. Sierra was used 55% more than the next ranked name, Ciara (Irish and English), in 2007.

Baby names that sound like Sierra include Sieara (English), Ciara (Irish and English), Seiarra (English), Shakira (Arabic), Sheria (English), Shery (English), Siara (English), Siarah (English), Siarra (English), Siiri (Finnish), Syria (German), Cearaa (English), Cearra (English), Ceria (English), Sahar (Arabic and Iranian), Sahra (German), Sara (German), Sarah (English, French, and German), Saray (Spanish), Sára (Hungarian), Sári (Hungarian), Seara (English), Searria (English), Seirra (English), Sera (English, Iranian, and Turkish), Shari (English), Shary (English), Sheree (English), Sheri (English), Sherie (English), Sherri (English), Sherrie (English), Sherry (English), Shira (Hebrew), Shiree (English), Shura (Russian), Shuree (English), Siearra (English), Sieria (English), Sierre (English), Sira (German and Italian), Siri (Scandinavian), Soraya (Arabic and Iranian), Ceara (English and Irish), Cearia (English), Cera (English and Irish), Cerea (English), Ceri (Welsh and English), Cheri (English), Ciera (Irish and English), Cieria (English), Cierra (English), Cierrah (English), Sarai (English), Scherie (English), Seira (English), Sharay (English), Sher (English), Shir (Hebrew), Suraya (Arabic), Surayya (Arabic), and Cher (English).

^KEY: Pronunciation for Sierra: S as in "sea (S.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"

Popularity Trend
for Sierra
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Sierra
in 2007