Dara

Dara are several given names used for both men and women in different languages.

== Etymology == Dara are several different homonymous names with different etymological origins. In Hebrew, Dara means "compassion" or "pearl of wisdom". In Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia, Dara means "gift", or "to give a gift", its meaning directly derives from dar "gift". In Ibibio, Dara is a derivative of "joy", and it means "rejoice". In Indonesian, Dara is a feminine given name meaning "girl", "young woman", or "virgin". In Yoruba, Dara is a short form of the name Oluwadara or Oluwadarasimi, given to a male or female child meaning "God's Good". Oluwa means "God" and Dara means "is good". Dara is an anglicisation of the Irish language given name Dáire, which is likely derived from "oak wood". Despite traditionally being masculine, it is sometimes used as a unisex name. Alternative spellings include Daire or Darragh. It also occurs as a surname, possibly a version of the surname . In Javanese, Dara means "dove" or "pigeon". Because of the diacritic mark in Yoruba, Dara is also a short form of Oluwaṣindara, which means "wonder (God still does wonder)". In Gokana, "Dara" mean to "carry". In Kazakh, Dara is a feminine given name meaning "special, one of a kind". In Khmer, Thai, and Lao, Dara is a unisex name meaning "star". In Persian, and Parsi communities, () is a variant of the masculine given name Darius. In contemporary Persian, it means "rich", "well-off" and "well-to-do". In Punjabi, Dara means "leader". In Swahili, Dara means "the beautiful one". The word "Odara" derives from the Brazilian indigenous Ioruba word dara, meaning "gorgeous." In Urdu, Dara is a masculine given name meaning "possessor" or "sovereign" and "halo (of the moon)". It can also mean "sovereign" or "lord", a meaning shared with the Sikh language. In Urdu, Dara is a short form of Darius. In African-American culture, the name Dara is of Bermudian origin, also meaning "beautiful".