Ira (name)
Ira is a unisex given name.
As a Sanskrit male name, its meaning is that of the wind god, Vayu. As a female name its meaning is "the Earth". She is daughter of Daksha Prajapati and is wife of Kashyapa Maharishi and she is mother of plants, creepers and trees. In short she is the mother of all vegetation.
In Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian, Ira is a female given name, a diminutive of Iryna.
In Finland, Ira is a female given name, a version of the name of the Greek goddess Hera, Ήρα, queen of the gods and wife of Zeus.
In Hebrew, the name Ira has several meanings,
among them "Watchful".
Biblical
- Ira the Jairite, King David's priest or chief minister
- Ira ben Ikkesh of Tekoa, a fighter among King David's Mighty Warriors
People
- Ira H. Abbott, American aerospace engineer
- Ira Aldridge, American actor
- Ira Allen, American politician
- Ira Alterman, American journalist and author
- Ira Angustain, American actor
- Ira Aten, American sheriff
- Ira Babcock, American pioneer
- Ira Baldwin, American scientist
- Ira Coleman Batman, American jurist and politician
- Ira Steven Behr, American television producer
- Ira Berkow, American writer
- Ira Berlin, American historian
- Ira Brahm Born, American businessman and inventor
- Ira Bowman, American basketball player
- Ira Brown, Japanese basketball player
- Ira Byock, American physician and author
- Ira Cohen, American poet, publisher, photographer, and filmmaker
- Ira Colitz, American businessman and politician
- Ira Condict, American college president
- Ira Clifton Copley, American politician and newspaper publisher
- Ira P. DeLoache, American real estate developer
- Ira Deutchman, American film producer
- Ira Drukier, American hotelier
- Ira Dubey, Indian film actress
- Ira Einhorn, American convicted murderer
- Ira C. Eaker, American general
- Ira Allen Eastman, American politician
- Ira Elliot, American drummer
- Ira Flatow, American radio and television journalist
- Ira Fuchs, American computer scientist
- Ira A. Fulton, American businessman
- Ira Gershwin, American lyricist
- Ira Gitler, American jazz historian and journalist
- Ira Glass, American radio presenter
- Ira Glasser, former director of the American Civil Liberties Union
- Ira B. Harkey Jr., American writer
- Ira Hamilton Hayes, United States Marine and Pima Native American, photographed raising the flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima
- Ira G. Hedrick, American civil engineer
- Ira Herskowitz, American geneticist
- Ira B. Hyde, American politician
- Ira Kaplan, American musician
- Ira Katznelson, American political scientist
- Ira Levin, American writer
- Ira A. Lipman, American businessman and philanthropist
- Ira M. Lish, American politician
- Ira Losco, Maltese singer
- Ira Magaziner, American consultant
- Ira Mellman, American cell biologist
- Ira Newborn, American composer
- Ira C. Owens, American general
- Ira Pastan, American scientist
- Ira B. Pauly, American psychiatrist
- Ira Pierce, American chemist and college sports coach
- Ira Remsen, American chemist
- Ira Sachs, American filmmaker
- Ira Sankey, American singer
- Ira "Ike" Schab, American World War II Navy veteran
- Ira Sharkansky, American political scientist
- Ira Shor, American educator
- Ira Stoll, American journalist
- Ira Valentine, American football player
- Ira Wolfert, American war correspondent
Fiction
- Ira Buchman, fictional character in the American television series Mad About You
- Ira Gaines, fictional character in the American television series 24
- Ira S. Glicksberg or Sensei Ira, a recurring fictional character played by Lance Krall in the U.S. comedy series, The Office
- Ira Goldstein, fictional character in ASB Bank advertisements in New Zealand
- Ira Graves, fictional character in an episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Data's "grandfather"
- Ira Hath, fictional character in the Wind on Fire Trilogy by William Nicholson
- Ira Hogeboom, fictional character in the video game L.A. Noire
- Ira Levinson, fictional character in the 2013 Nicholas Sparks novel The Longest Ride, portrayed by Alan Alda and Jack Huston in the 2015 film of the same name
- Ira Lowenstein, fictional character portrayed by David Strathairn in the movie A League of Their Own
- Ira Poppus, a character in the 1992 TV comedy Revenge of the Nerds III
- Ira Rosenbloom, fictional character portrayed by Richard Kind in the TV series Young Sheldon
- Ira Shalowitz, a character in the 1991 American comedy film City Slickers
- Ira Wright, fictional character portrayed by Seth Rogen in the comedy film, Funny People
- Ira, a sentient AI from the game Random Access Mayhem.
- Ira, a character representing anger and the gender experience in The Shadows: Nova's Love by E. Kathryn