Koral
Feminine · “coral”
Coral is an animal. It looks like a mineral, it was classified as a plant for centuries, and when a French naturalist demonstrated in the 1720s that the branches were built by colonies of tiny animals, the scientific establishment laughed at him. It took decades to be accepted.
How old is the name Koral?
Koral first appears in US birth records in 1954 — 71 years ago. The typical Koral alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 900 people named Koral are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Koral most popular?
Koral peaked in 1995, reaching #3422 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 8,510 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Where it comes from
From korallion to Koral
The story of Koral
Mediterranean red coral has been fished, carved and traded since antiquity, and for most of that time nobody knew what it was. Ovid explains it as seaweed turned to stone by Medusa's blood; Renaissance naturalists filed it under minerals; Linnaeus's contemporaries argued about it. Jean-Andre Peyssonnel worked out in the 1720s that the flowers on a coral branch were animals, and was ridiculed enough that he left France. He was right. Alongside all of that ran a much older use: a branch of red coral was hung on a child's cradle across southern Europe as protection against the evil eye, and Italian paintings of the Madonna and child put one in the baby's hand.
Meaning
coral
Through Latin corallium from Greek korallion, the red coral of the Mediterranean. The word named the material long before anyone knew what produced it. Koral is the Spanish and Slavic-influenced spelling, and also simply the English word with a K.
How the name formed
- korallion
- corallium
- coral
- Koral
Related forms: Coral · Koral
Pronouncing Koral
KOR-ul
Two syllables, stress on the first, exactly as the English word is said. In Spanish and Hebrew the weight goes to the second, ko-RAL, which is a noticeably different rhythm.
Nicknames for Koral
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
- 1954
- Most girls named
- 200837 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3422reached in 1995
- Change vs 2024
- −56.3%7 in 2025, from 16
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.
Koral in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Coral in Spanish — same name
- Koral in Hebrew — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida.
Korals among us
people named Koral are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Koral
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Koral
- #11932
- Koral on the 2025 chart
- #853
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Koral went to 7 girls in 2025, but Coral is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 107, which makes it the 853rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 11,079 places above the chart.
- Coral100
- Koral7
About 1 girl in 15,021 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 229,610 for Koral 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 Darrelyn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Koral's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darrelyn climbed just as high around 1950, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darrelyn's path sketches the road Koral is walking now.
Koral 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
Koral beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Koral in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning naming something concrete, colorful and easy to point at.
- Three short forms, two of which are names in their own right.
- It is an ordinary word in English, Spanish and Hebrew alike.
- Coral with a C is the standard spelling in English and Spanish both.
- English and Spanish speakers put the stress in different places.
- The material is now closely associated with reef damage, which is a modern shadow on an old word.
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What they receive
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Koral
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Korals are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Koral are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Koral?
- Koral is one of 2 recorded spellings. Coral is the more common one — 100 births in 2025 against 7 for Koral.
- How popular is the name Koral in 2025?
- Koral ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Koral?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Koral — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Koral with classmates?
- Koral will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Koral
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Gracia#11932 · Hassie#11932 · Allene#11932 · Leonore#11932 · Odella#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Koral? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Koral and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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