Dinorah
Feminine
Dinorah reached the world through a French opera about a Breton goatherd who sings a duet with her own shadow. It is three syllables with the stress in the middle, and it has lived on longest in Latin America.
How old is the name Dinorah?
Dinorah first appears in US birth records in 1958 — 67 years ago. The typical Dinorah alive today was born around 1982, making them about 43 years old. About 500 people named Dinorah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dinorah most popular?
Dinorah peaked in 1968, reaching #2482 nationally. See the whole 1968 chart.
Where it comes from
From Dinorah (opera) to Dinorah
The story of Dinorah
Meyerbeer's opera was first called Le Pardon de Ploërmel, after a Breton pardon, a local pilgrimage festival in honor of a saint, with processions, a mass and a fair, still held across Brittany. Its heroine, Dinorah, loses her reason when her wedding is interrupted and wanders the countryside, and her Shadow Song became a showpiece for sopranos. When the opera traveled abroad it was known by her name, and the name traveled with it, especially into Spanish-speaking America.
Meaningscholars disagree
a name first known from Meyerbeer's opera
Dinorah is best known as the heroine of Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera of that name. No older source for the name is recorded; it may have been coined for the libretto, and a link to Dinah or Nora is only a resemblance.
How the name formed
- Dinorahopera
- Dinorah
Related forms: Dinora
Pronouncing Dinorah
dih-NOR-uh
Stress on the second syllable. In Spanish, dee-NOH-rah.
Nicknames for Dinorah
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
- 1958
- Most girls named
- 196825 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2482reached in 1968
- Change vs 2016
- 0.0%5 in 2022, from 5
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.
Dinorah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dinora in Spanish — spelling variant
Dinorahs among us
people named Dinorah are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Dinorah sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It has a documented literary and musical history.
- Dina and Nora give two classic short forms.
- It works in Spanish and English.
- People will write Dinora or Dinorha.
- Its origin beyond the opera is not recorded.
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Dinorah
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Dinorahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Dinorah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dinorah in 2025?
- Dinorah is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Dinorah with classmates?
- Dinorah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More D names
The most-given names starting with D, all years combined.
Dorothy#421 · Donna#1962 · Deborah#862 · Debra#4460 · Diane#2607 · Doris#2895 · Denise#1673 · Danielle#549
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dinorah? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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