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Home › Baby Names Directory › Iracema

Iracema

♀ Girl

Pronounced ee-rah-SEH-mah

Meaning: lips of honey

In 30 seconds: Old Tupi name meaning 'lips of honey' — from yra (honey) and tembe (lips) — and an anagram of América, as the novelist José de Alencar intended.
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Origin Tupi
Meaninglips of honey
U.S. rank (2004)#17121 ↘ Falling
2004 U.S. births5 girls (0.00% of U.S. girls)
Peak year1982
Total births (all-time)≈ 61

Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data

peak 198219712004

U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.

SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.

History & Origin

Iracema is an Old Tupi name composed of yra (honey) and tembe (lips), meaning 'lips of honey' or 'honey lips.' Tupi was the language of the Indigenous people of coastal Brazil encountered by the first Portuguese colonizers, and many of its words passed into Brazilian Portuguese as plant names, place names, and given names still in use today. The name is inseparable from its literary history: in 1865 the Brazilian novelist José de Alencar published Iracema, a foundational work of Brazilian Romantic literature in which the name carries a double meaning — a woman of honey lips who is also, letter for letter, an anagram of América, symbolizing the New World through an Indigenous woman. The novel recounts the tragic love of a Tabajara shaman's daughter for a Portuguese soldier and contributed powerfully to a Brazilian sense of national identity. Alencar subtitled it 'A Legend of Brazil.' The name became widely used in Brazil through the 20th century and remains in active use today.

Did you know? Iracema is an anagram of América — a meaning the author José de Alencar built deliberately into the name of his 1865 heroine, making the Tabajara woman a literary symbol of the New World itself.
Iracema — Wikipedia — Documents the 1865 novel, the Tupi etymology yra + tembe, and the anagram of AméricaIracema, the Honey-Lips: A Legend of Brazil — Encyclopedia.com — Full-text analysis of Alencar's novel, its Tupi vocabulary, and its role in Brazilian national literatureIracema — Wiktionary — Confirms Tupi etymology from yra (honey) and tembe (lips)

Variations

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Nicknames

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If you like Iracema…

Jandaia— Old Tupi name for a parakeet — same language and Brazilian Indigenous naming tradition
Juriti— Old Tupi name for a turtledove — same Tupi bird-name tradition from Brazil
Guaraci— Old Tupi sun name from the same Indigenous Brazilian language and mythology
Moema— Tupi feminine name attested in colonial Brazil — a close cultural and linguistic parallel

Frequently Asked

What does Iracema mean?

Iracema means 'lips of honey' in Old Tupi, from yra (honey) and tembe (lips). It is also an anagram of América — a double meaning the novelist José de Alencar built deliberately into his 1865 heroine's name.

How do you pronounce Iracema?

ee-rah-SAY-mah — four syllables, with stress on the third, in Brazilian Portuguese.

Who is Iracema in Brazilian literature?

Iracema is the heroine of a foundational 1865 novel by José de Alencar — a Tabajara shaman's daughter whose tragic love story with a Portuguese soldier helped shape Brazilian Romantic literature and national identity.

Is Iracema a boy or girl name?

Iracema is a feminine name.

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