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As some people may have mentioned - The Golden Compass.
But while this novel introduced me to the name, I never liked the book/movie or the character, strangely. So the name shouldn't have taken off for me, which it didn't for quite a few years.

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But now, I'm in love with most four letter, two syllable, L names that end in 'a' (not such a narrow category as you might imagine) and Lyra fits the bill perfectly.
The Golden Compass made this name recognisable, pronounceable and easy to spell. But the franchise didn't take off enough for Lyra to become a too-popular, unusable name.

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For a short name, Lyra has enough substance to stand alone and it feels powerful.

The Golden Compass

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My niece is Sophia Lyra, named from the Golden Compass books. The Lyra in the book was a total badass, and my niece is similar. I strongly associate it with the books and that's why I like it.

Unfortunately, His Dark Materials really ruined this name for me, since I despise the books with a flaming passion and can't stand Philip Pullman in general. I although think it's kind of weird since it sounds similar to Lira, which is a common surname in Brazil (it's a Portuguese surname).

This message was edited 5/1/2016, 6:55 PM

Similar to Myra and Lyla and even Kaia... it does have a prickly sound. But I think it sounds sort of rebellious or independent and maybe difficult, rather than bossy or bitchy. And I think it benefits from a slight association with musicality (lyre, lyric).

AGREED. Lyra is awful and pretentious and AWFUL to me. Sounds like the name of a bitch.