It's both!
in reply to a message by Isis
And in many countries the female use is much more common than the male one. Some examples:
Sweden:
147 women 12 men
Norway
34 women 0 men
Denmark
34 women 0 men
And in German name books you will always find the name in the female section, sometimes with the remark that it's allowed to use it as a male name, too (but then you have to add an unmistakable male name to make sure everybody understands that it is a male person.
Ira for females is short for Irina, Irena and any name ending with -ira like Elvira, Saphira, Kira, Mira etc.
By the way - the pronunciation of the name in the countries I talked about is EE-rah, not EYE-rah!
Regards, Satu
Sweden:
147 women 12 men
Norway
34 women 0 men
Denmark
34 women 0 men
And in German name books you will always find the name in the female section, sometimes with the remark that it's allowed to use it as a male name, too (but then you have to add an unmistakable male name to make sure everybody understands that it is a male person.
Ira for females is short for Irina, Irena and any name ending with -ira like Elvira, Saphira, Kira, Mira etc.
By the way - the pronunciation of the name in the countries I talked about is EE-rah, not EYE-rah!
Regards, Satu