Cora
Feminine · “maiden”
Cora is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 156,028 girls against 387 boys since 1880.
Cora comes from the Greek word for a young woman or maiden — a title once used for Persephone. It reached English readers largely through James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans, published in 1826, where Cora Munro is one of the two sisters at the heart of the story. Two syllables, five letters, and an opening K sound that lands cleanly: it has been said the same way for a very long time.
How old is the name Cora?
Cora was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Cora alive today was born around 1939, making them about 86 years old. About 76,500 people named Cora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cora most popular?
Cora peaked in 1880, reaching #15 nationally. Today it ranks #113, 98 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Where it comes from
From Korē to Cora
The story of Cora
The root is the Greek korē, "maiden" or "girl", a word that also served as a title for Persephone in her role as daughter. Latinized to Cora, it sat mostly in classical texts until the eighteenth century, when English writers began using it as a given name. Cooper's 1826 novel The Last of the Mohicans put it in front of a very large readership on both sides of the Atlantic, and American records show it in steady use from the earliest years they cover. It traveled again in the twenty-first century through the American-born Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey.
Meaning
maiden, young woman
From Greek korē. The same word was used as an epithet of Persephone. Cora also does double duty in English as a short form of longer names — Cordelia, Cornelia, Coraline, Coral — so some families arrive at it from that direction instead.
How the name formed
- Korē
- Cora
Related forms: Kore · Kora · Kora · Cora · Corina · Corinna
Pronouncing Cora
KOR-uh
Stress on the first syllable. English speakers reach it on the first try; the main confusion is spelling rather than sound, since Kora is used in German and Polish.
Nicknames for Cora
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 20193,602 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #15reached in 1880
- Change vs 2022
- −21.1%2,428 in 2025, from 3,076
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.
Cora in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kore in Greek — same name
- Kora in German — spelling variant
- Kora in Polish — spelling variant
- Cora in Italian — same name
- Corina in Romanian — related form
- Corinna in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Ohio. International figures from National Records of Scotland. Sources
Coras among us
people named Cora are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 662 born in 2025 was named Cora
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cora
- #113
- Cora on the 2025 chart
- #89
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cora went to 2,428 girls in 2025, but Kora, Korra and Korah are the same name said out loud. Together the 7 spellings went to 3,241, which makes it the 89th most-given girls’ name of the year — 24 places above the chart.
and 3 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 496 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 662 for Cora 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
Fashion outlook
Cora peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Cora is headed
Cora should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Cora beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cora in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables, five letters, and pronounced as it looks for most English speakers — little correcting required.
- A documented line back to ancient Greek, with unbroken use in American records since they began.
- Works as a full name or as the short form of Cordelia, Cornelia, Coraline and Coral, which gives a family options either way.
- Recognizable across Italian, German, Polish and Greek with at most a letter changed.
- Familiar without being crowded — most children named Cora will not share a classroom with another.
- It sits in a dense field of near-rhymes: Nora, Dora, Aurora, Laura, Coraline. Expect the occasional mix-up, and think about how it sits next to siblings' names.
- Kora is the standard spelling in several European languages, so the C is worth spelling out when it matters.
- Most people currently carrying the name in the US are of grandparent or great-grandparent age, so some listeners will hear it as an older family name — which is exactly why others are drawn to it.
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What they receive
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Cora
Feminine · #113 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Coras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 76,500 people named Cora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cora?
- Cora is the most-used spelling in US records — 2,428 of the 3,241 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kora, Korra and Korah.
- How popular is the name Cora in 2025?
- Cora ranks #113 among US girl names in 2025, with 2,428 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cora?
- About 1 in every 662 US girls born in 2025 was named Cora — 2,428 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cora with classmates?
- Cora will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cora
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rose#114 · Margaret#112 · Catalina#111 · Eliza#115 · Raelynn#116 · Juliette#110 · Alaia#117 · Athena#109
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cora? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cora and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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