Koren
Feminine · “shining”
Koren is given to both — 1,519 girls and 260 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Koren is a Hebrew word about shining, and the verb behind it is responsible for one of the most consequential mistranslations in Western art. When Moses comes down the mountain his face is described with that verb, and a Latin translator read the consonants as the word for horn instead of the word for shine. That is why Michelangelo's Moses has horns.
How old is the name Koren?
Koren first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Koren alive today was born around 1977, making them about 48 years old. About 1,400 people named Koren are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Koren most popular?
Koren peaked in 1978, reaching #1314 nationally. See the whole 1978 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A Hebrew root meaning both shining and horn to Koren
The story of Koren
The Latin translation was made in the fourth century and stood as the standard Bible of western Europe for over a thousand years, which is long enough for a reading to become a fact. Artists worked from the text they had, so Moses acquired horns in sculpture, manuscript illumination and stained glass all over Europe, and the most famous statue of him has two small ones on his forehead. Modern translations all give the shining reading, and the horns look to us like an error, but they were the received text for fifty generations. It is a useful reminder about certainty: the mistake was not made by anybody careless, it survived because the alternative reading was genuinely available in the consonants, and the correction took most of a millennium.
Meaningscholars disagree
shining
The Hebrew root can be read as radiance or as a horn, because Hebrew is written without vowels and the two words share consonants. In the context of the Moses passage the shining reading is now universally preferred. As a personal name the word is used in modern Hebrew, and the American examples are usually a respelling of something else entirely rather than a borrowing from it.
How the name formed
- A Hebrew root meaning both shining and horn
- A fourth-century translation choosing the second
- Koren as a modern Hebrew name from the first
- Also an American respelling with no Hebrew behind it
Related forms: Koren
Pronouncing Koren
KOR-en
Two syllables, stress on the first, in American use. Hebrew puts it on the second, giving ko-REN, which is the rule for most Hebrew words and which English speakers almost never apply.
Nicknames for Koren
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
- 1950
- Most girls named
- 197891 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1314reached in 1978
- Change vs 2010
- 0.0%5 in 2015, 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.
Koren in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Koren in Hebrew — same name
Korens among us
people named Koren 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
Koren 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 is short, clean and easy to say in English and in Hebrew alike.
- It works on the register for either child, which the record confirms.
- It carries a genuinely remarkable piece of translation history.
- Most American examples are not Hebrew, and claiming the ancestry needs a family reason.
- The stress differs between the two languages and both are correct.
- It will be written Corin, Coren or Corren by people taking it from speech.
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What they receive
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Koren
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Korens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Koren are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Koren in 2025?
- Koren is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Koren with classmates?
- Koren will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Karen#1279 · Kimberly#302 · Kathleen#1150 · Katherine#186 · Kelly#851 · Kathryn#729 · Kayla#364 · Kathy#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Koren? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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