Coral
Feminine · “coral”
Coral is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 10,971 girls against 191 boys since 1880.
Coral is an animal that builds rock, and the Greeks called it korallion without knowing it was alive — they took it for a stone that softened in water.
How old is the name Coral?
Coral first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Coral alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 9,000 people named Coral are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Coral most popular?
Coral peaked in 1888, reaching #486 nationally. Today it ranks #1927, 1,441 places below that high. See the whole 1888 chart.
Where it comes from
From korallion to Coral
The story of Coral
Red coral was fished from the Mediterranean and traded as far as India, and Roman children wore coral amulets against harm. Pliny records the belief that it hardened on contact with air. Gem and mineral names rose in Victorian English naming — Ruby, Pearl, Opal, Coral — and Coral appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
coral
From the Greek korallion, of unrecovered further origin — possibly Semitic. Latin took it as corallium and English as coral. The ancients classified coral as a mineral; that it is a colonial animal was not established until the eighteenth century. The word is ordinary and the meaning undisputed.
How the name formed
- korallion
- corallium
- coral
- Coral
Related forms: Coral · Koral · Corallo
Pronouncing Coral
KOR-ul
Two syllables, stress on the first. It is a homophone of the ordinary English noun.
Nicknames for Coral
Moderate
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
- 1881
- Most girls named
- 2004224 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #486reached in 1888
- Change vs 2022
- −13.8%100 in 2025, from 116
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.
Coral in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Coral in Spanish — same name
- Koral in Hebrew — related form
- Corallo in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Corals among us
people named Coral are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 16,073 born in 2025 was named Coral
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Coral 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Coral is headed
Coral 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.
Coral beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Coral in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That the ancients took coral for a stone is a genuinely interesting piece of natural history.
- It belongs to a documented Victorian family of gem names.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It is an ordinary English noun and reads as one.
- It is a homophone of 'corral', a livestock enclosure.
- Cora is close enough to cause confusion.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Coral
Feminine · #1927 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Corals are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,000 people named Coral are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Coral in 2025?
- Coral ranks #1927 among US girl names in 2025, with 100 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Coral?
- About 1 in every 16,073 US girls born in 2025 was named Coral — 100 in all.
- Will my child share the name Coral with classmates?
- Coral will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Coral
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Cove#1927 · Cindy#1927 · Collyns#1927 · Estefany#1927 · Cori#1927 · Isela#1927 · Lula#1927 · Ahuva#1927
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Coral? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Coral and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
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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