Head to head · Girls' names
Aubree vs Kora
#489 vs #490 in 2025
Aubree is a whisker ahead (#489 vs #490 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Aubree is stepping back from its peak, Kora is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Kora has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Aubree leads 4 measures of 6; Kora leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1940s: Aubree —, Kora #4622 — Kora higher
- 1960s: Aubree —, Kora #6099 — Kora higher
- 1970s: Aubree #3325, Kora #7464 — Aubree higher
- 1980s: Aubree #1441, Kora #6149 — Aubree higher
- 1990s: Aubree #910, Kora #3235 — Aubree higher
- 2000s: Aubree #546, Kora #1799 — Aubree higher
- 2010s: Aubree #98, Kora #772 — Aubree higher
- 2020s: Aubree #297, Kora #495 — Aubree higher
Aubree stood higher in 6 of 8 decades; Aubree has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Aubree | Kora |
|---|---|---|
| 1940s | — | #4622 |
| 1960s | — | #6099 |
| 1970s | #3325 | #7464 |
| 1980s | #1441 | #6149 |
| 1990s | #910 | #3235 |
| 2000s | #546 | #1799 |
| 2010s | #98 | #772 |
| 2020s | #297 | #495 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Aubree
elf ruler, or elf power
From the Germanic elements alb 'elf' and ric 'power, ruler', joined in the old name Alberich. Aubree carries that meaning through Aubrey, of which it is a respelling.
Alberich → Auberi → Aubrey → Aubree
How it traveled
The root is the Germanic Alberich, borne by the dwarf-king who guards the Nibelung hoard in medieval German legend. Norman French wore it down to Auberi, and Norman speakers brought it to England after 1066, where it settled as Aubrey and stayed a man's name for centuries — you can still find it on English maps and surnames.
Kora
maiden, girl
The root is Greek korē, "maiden" — also a title of Persephone in Greek religion. Kora is a modern spelling of Cora rather than a separate name; the meaning travels with it.
Korē → Cora → Kora
How it traveled
The line begins with the Greek korē, a plain word for a young woman that also served as a name for Persephone in cult and myth. Cora surfaced as an English given name in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and got a strong push from literature: James Fenimore Cooper named a heroine Cora Munro in The Last of the Mohicans, published in 1826, and the name spread widely through the English-speaking world afterwards.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Aubree
AW-bree
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some speakers say OH-bree, closer to the French Aubry, but AW-bree is the standard American reading and the spelling encourages it.
- Bree — The most common short form, and a long-established given name in its own right.
- Aubs — Casual, used among friends and family rather than on paper.
- Bri — An alternate spelling of the same short form; overlaps with Brianna and Briana.
- Bee — An affectionate household short form, rarely used outside the family.
Kora
KOR-uh
Stress on the first syllable, rhyming with Nora and Dora. Some speakers say KOH-ruh with a rounder first vowel; both are accepted and neither causes confusion.
- Kori — The most common short form; also used on its own as a given name, usually spelled Cori or Corey.
- Ko — A one-syllable family nickname rather than anything used outside the house.
- Kiki — Informal, playful, drawn from the initial sound rather than the spelling.
- Korie — A longer written variant of Kori, used mostly in writing and signatures.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Aubree if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAubree is stepping back from its peak
- a name that feels very nowAubree is stepping back from its peak
Choose Kora if you want…
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 74% for Aubree
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Aubree
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, so a child rarely has to teach anyone how to say it.
- Comes with Bree ready-made — a short form that also works as a full given name on a resume or a nametag.
- Sits on a documented line running back through Norman French to Germanic Alberich, nearly a thousand years of continuous use.
To consider
- Aubrey is the spelling most people default to. Expect a lifetime of small corrections on forms, coffee cups and email addresses — manageable, but constant.
- The name's wave is recent and concentrated, so it reads as belonging to a particular slice of American childhood rather than to any generation before it.
- Aubrey is still used for men in Britain and in older American records. The -ee spelling reads as female in the US, but the parent name has two roads and someone will occasionally assume the other one.
Kora
Strengths
- Reads correctly on sight for English speakers — four letters, two syllables, no silent letters or ambiguous vowels.
- Sits in a long-established sound-family with Cora, Nora, Dora and Flora, so it is familiar to the ear even when the spelling is new to someone.
- The Greek root korē is documented and easy to explain in a sentence, which is more than many short names can offer.
To consider
- Cora is the older and better-known spelling, so expect "is that with a C or a K?" at doctors' offices, coffee counters and school forms for life. Worth deciding early which spelling you will correct and which you will let slide.
- Its growth in the US is recent, so most Koras are children rather than adults. That means a child is unlikely to share the name with a classmate, but also that the name has no long American track record to lean on.
- The word kora also names a West African 21-string harp-lute and, in Tibetan Buddhism, the practice of walking a circuit around a sacred site. Neither is a problem — just two other things the word means in the world.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Aubree
74%chance Aubree feels dated by 2040
Aubree is coming down from a big peak (#53 in 2013). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Kora
40%chance Kora feels dated by 2040
Kora sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Aubree and Kora in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Aubree and Kora?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- Names that fell out of the top 100 this century
- Names that belong entirely to the 2010s
- all guides
Where Aubree and Kora each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Aubree or Kora — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Aubree or Kora?
- Aubree, in 2025: Aubree ranked #489 with 606 babies; Kora ranked #490 with 603 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Aubree or Kora?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Aubree moved down 333 places; Kora moved down 2 places.
- Which is the older name, Aubree or Kora?
- Aubree entered the US charts in 1972; Kora entered the US charts in 1942. On the American record, Kora is the older name.
- How many people are named Aubree and Kora?
- About 49,000 people named Aubree are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 9,500 people named Kora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Aubrees or Koras in the classroom?
- Aubree will almost certainly be the only one in school. Kora will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Aubree, Kora and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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