Anora
Feminine · “either "honor" or "pomegranate”
Anora has been written down in England since the Middle Ages, when Annora stood as a homegrown form of Honora, and it lives a second, unrelated life in Central Asia, where anor is the word for pomegranate. Three syllables, stress in the middle, and every letter doing exactly what it looks like it does. Nora is already inside it, waiting.
How old is the name Anora?
Anora first appears in US birth records in 1923 — 102 years ago. The typical Anora is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,200 people named Anora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Anora most popular?
Anora peaked in 2025, reaching #1484 nationally. Today it ranks #1484, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From Honoria to Anora
The story of Anora
The English line begins with Latin Honoria and Honora, names of honor carried into medieval England, where scribes clipped them to Annora — a form that appears in English records from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and shades into Alianora, the medieval spelling behind Eleanor. Annora thinned to Anora over time, then went quiet for centuries in the English-speaking world. Meanwhile, in Persian-speaking Central Asia, Anora developed independently from anor, pomegranate, and remains in use in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Its recent American revival is very much a fresh wave rather than a family handing-down, helped along by an award-winning American film of the mid-2020s that took the single word Anora as its title.
Meaningscholars disagree
either "honor" or "pomegranate", depending on which road the name traveled
As the English Annora/Anora, it belongs to the family of Honora and Honoria, from Latin honor. As the Uzbek and Tajik Anora, it comes from Persian anor, "pomegranate", with a feminine ending. Two genuinely separate origins that arrived at nearly the same spelling; neither cancels the other.
How the name formed
- Honoria
- Honora
- Annora
- Anora
Related forms: Annora · Honoria · Onóra · Nora · Anora
Pronouncing Anora
uh-NOR-uh
Stress falls on the middle syllable. Some families say ah-NOR-ah with a fuller first vowel, which is closer to the Uzbek pronunciation; both are in use and neither needs correcting.
Nicknames for Anora
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1923
- Most girls named
- 2025144 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1484reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +87.0%144 in 2025, from 77
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Anora in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Annora in English (medieval) — spelling variant
- Honoria in Latin — related form
- Onóra in Irish — related form
- Nora in English / Irish — related form
- Anora in Uzbek — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Anoras among us
people named Anora are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 11,162 born in 2025 was named Anora
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Anora
- #1484
- Anora on the 2025 chart
- #754
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Anora went to 144 girls in 2025, but Annora and Anorah are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 207, which makes it the 754th most-given girls’ name of the year — 730 places above the chart.
- Anora144
- Annora40
- Anorah23
About 1 girl in 7,765 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 11,162 for Anora itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jailynn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Anora's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jailynn climbed just as high around 2007, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jailynn's path sketches the road Anora is walking now.
Anora is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Anora is headed
Anora should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Anora beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Anora in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Reads exactly as it is spelled — a stranger can say it correctly on first sight, which is rare for a name this uncommon.
- Comes with Nora already built in, a short form that stands perfectly well as a full name for an adult.
- Documented in English records since the Middle Ages, so it is a revival rather than a coinage.
- Recognizable in two unrelated language traditions, English and Persian-speaking Central Asia.
- It sits one letter or one sound away from Aurora, Annora, Anara and Ariana, so expect a lifetime of gentle spelling-out on the phone and in doctors' offices.
- The climb is steep and recent. A child named Anora now will likely be the only one in her class, but the name may feel considerably more familiar by the time she is in high school.
- Some adults will connect the name to the film of the same title, which is explicit and about a sex worker. The association is likely to fade as the name settles into ordinary use, but it is worth knowing it exists.
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What they receive
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Anora
Feminine · #1484 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Anoras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Anora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Anora?
- Anora is the most-used spelling in US records — 144 of the 207 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Annora and Anorah.
- How popular is the name Anora in 2025?
- Anora ranks #1484 among US girl names in 2025, with 144 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Anora?
- About 1 in every 11,162 US girls born in 2025 was named Anora — 144 in all.
- Will my child share the name Anora with classmates?
- Anora will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Anora
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zaynab#1484 · Aranza#1484 · Miah#1484 · Amiah#1484 · Rivky#1484 · Lakyn#1484 · Dove#1484 · Junie#1484
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Anora? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Anora and another name?
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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