Meaning and background
The story behind Lara
Lara is familiar as a short personal name, particularly through the Russian name Larisa and its literary use in Doctor Zhivago. However, a separate Lara is recorded in Roman mythology as a variant of the nymph Larunda. These are two historically different routes sharing a spelling. For a dog called Lara, neither the literary nor the mythological explanation can be assumed without knowing why the owner chose it.
- Origin
- Used as a Russian short form of Larisa; independently Lara also names a figure in Roman mythology. Source
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Everyday moments“Lara, come here!”
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About Lara
Recorded as a dog’s name
Lara appears in 6 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/lɑɹə/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/lɑɹə/ · primary stress on syllable 1L AA1 R AH0
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.