Elora
Feminine
Elora had a quiet life in American records long before most people met it, sitting in the same drawer as Elnora and Eleanora. Then, in 1988, the film Willow gave the name to its infant princess, Elora Danan, and the sound went out loud into the world — three open vowels, a soft landing, nothing sharp anywhere in it.
How old is the name Elora?
Elora first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Elora is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 8,600 people named Elora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elora most popular?
Elora peaked in 2025, reaching #354 nationally. Today it ranks #354, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Elora appears on this list:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Elora
Elora's paper trail in the United States begins generations before any film, in the era when Elnora, Eleanora and Lenora were all in ordinary use — which is why the simplest explanation, a trimmed and respelled Eleanora, has always been the leading one. Nobody has ever proved it, and Elora has never been tied to a single language or region. The one date that is certain is 1988, when Willow named its infant princess Elora Danan and put the three syllables in front of a very large audience; the name's recent growth follows that far more closely than anything earlier. A village in Ontario, Canada, carries the spelling exactly, and the rock-cut temples of Ellora in Maharashtra, India, carry it nearly so.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No origin has ever been established for Elora. What is documented is the company it keeps: it appears in American records alongside Elnora and Eleanora, and it contains the familiar El- opening shared by Eleanor, Elena and Eloise. Name books often gloss it as "God is my light" by reading it as Hebrew el plus or, but that is a later interpretation of the letters rather than a traced history.
Pronouncing Elora
eh-LOR-uh
Stress lands on the middle syllable. Some families say ih-LOR-uh, and both pass unremarked. The main practical confusion is with Aurora, which shares the -ora ending and the vowel-heavy shape but starts quite differently.
Nicknames for Elora
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
- 1898
- Most girls named
- 2025861 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #354reached in 2025
- Change vs 2023
- +20.8%861 in 2025, from 713
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.
Elora in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elnora in English — related form
- Alora in English — related form
- Eleonora in Italian — related form
- Éléonore in French — related form
- Eleonóra in Hungarian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Eloras among us
people named Elora are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,867 born in 2025 was named Elora
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Lauri test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Elora's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lauri climbed just as high around 1961, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lauri's path sketches the road Elora is walking now.
Elora 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 Elora is headed
Elora looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 34% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Elora beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elora in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Reads correctly on first sight for most English speakers — no silent letters, no ambiguous vowels, nothing to explain before it can be said.
- Comes with short forms already in wide circulation: Ellie, Ella, Lora, all of them familiar to adults from other names.
- Sits inside the well-known El- family, so it sounds recognizable even to people who have never encountered it before.
- Documented in American records across many generations, so it is not a recent coinage despite its recent growth.
- A child called Elora will very likely be the only one in her school, while never having to spell the name from scratch.
- It is climbing quickly. A name rising at this pace tends to feel noticeably more common by the time a baby born now reaches middle school, so the near-solitary feel it has today may not hold.
- Elora, Alora, Elnora and Aurora all circle one another, and Eleanora is close behind. Expect a lifetime of gentle corrections — mostly a spelling issue rather than a pronunciation one.
- The Willow connection is real and, for some adults, immediate. Whether that is a pleasure or a distraction depends entirely on the company.
- If a documented meaning matters to you, this name will not supply one. The El- opening invites the "light" reading, but nothing about the origin is settled.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Elora to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Elora? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Elora
Feminine · #354 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Eloras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 8,600 people named Elora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Elora in 2025?
- Elora ranks #354 among US girl names in 2025, with 861 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elora?
- About 1 in every 1,867 US girls born in 2025 was named Elora — 861 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elora with classmates?
- Elora will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elora
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ariel#355 · Adelyn#355 · Thea#353 · Kamila#355 · Wrenlee#355 · Hope#352 · Maryam#351 · Malia#349
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elora? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elora and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle