Kira is a mostly feminine name of multiple origins and meanings. The feminine form is pronounced or . It might be a feminine form of the name Kiran, pronounced . Kiran is of Hindi and Sanskrit origin, meaning "beam of light". In Ancient Hebrew "Keren" means both "a horn" and "a beam of light". Besides Sanskrit and Hebrew there might be other etymologies from Egyptian, where the word Ki-Ra means "like Ra", or Persian. Due to the Greek interpretation of the Persian king's name Kourosh (کوروش, Kūrosh) as Κύρος (Kýros) – which was obviously modeled after the Greek word κύριος (kýrios "lord"), the feminine form being κυρία (kyría) – Kyra (or Kira) can also be understood as a variant. Therefore, it is also in use as a feminine form of the Greek diminutive form Cyril. In Russian Kira () is the feminine form of the masculine name Kir, meaning "mistress, ruler", but can translate to "leader of the people", "one the people look to" or "beloved". Kira could also have arrived into Russian from the Persian-Greek name Kyra. Kira can also be the diminutive of the old and rare masculine given name Avvakir. Kira is one of several Anglicized forms of the Irish name Ciara, which in Irish means "dark haired". Kira also means "Strong Woman" in Slavonic. There is also a Japanese name, romanized as Kira, which is common in Japan, as both given name and family name (e.g. the Kira clan of Mikawa province). Kira kira also means "glittery, shiny" in Japanese. Variant forms include Kaira, Keera, Keira, Kiera, Kyra, Kyrah, Kyreena, Kyrha, Kyria, Kyrie, Kyrene, Kyrra, and Kirra. People Kira Banasińska (1899-2002), Polish humanitarian Kira Bertrand (born 1992), Dominican-Canadian footballer Kira Bilecky (born 1986), American-Peruvian footballer Kira Bousloff (1914-2001), Russian-Australian dancer Kira Brunton (born 1999), Canadian curler Kira Buckland (born 1987), American voice actress Kira Bulten (born 1973), Dutch Olympic swimmer Kira Bursky, American filmmaker Kira Carstensen, American documentary filmmaker Kira Chathli (born 1999), English cricketer Kira Chikazane (1563-1588), Japanese senior retainer Kira Cochrane (born 1977), British journalist Kira Davis, American film producer Kira Danganan-Azucena, Filipino diplomat Kira Eggers (born 1974), Danish model Kira Geil (born 1985), Austrian ice dancer Kira Golovko (1919–2017), Russian actress Kira Nam Greene, Korean-American painter Kira Grünberg (born 1993), Austrian politician Kira Hagi (born 1996), Romanian actress Kira Hall (born 1962), American anthropologist Kira Lynn Harris (born 1963), American artist Kira Henehan