Leora
Feminine
Leora is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 12,119 girls against 6 boys since 1880.
Leora arrives in English by two separate roads that happen to meet at the same six letters: one through Eleanor and its long-limbed Italian cousin Leonora, worn down over generations to Lenora and then Leora; the other through Hebrew, where the word for light sits right in the middle of it. It has been on American birth records since the earliest years such records were kept, quietly, without ever crowding a classroom. Three syllables, an open vowel in the middle, and it ends in the same soft -a that Nora and Aurora end in.
How old is the name Leora?
Leora was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Leora alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. About 5,100 people named Leora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Leora most popular?
Leora peaked in 1880, reaching #294 nationally. Today it ranks #1352, 1,058 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Leora appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Aliénor to Leora
The story of Leora
The English line begins with Aliénor, the Occitan name carried into France and England in the twelfth century, which became Eleanor, then Leonora and Eleonora in Italian and Spanish opera and poetry, then Lenora in American usage — and finally Leora, with the first syllable clipped away entirely. That is how it turns up in nineteenth-century American records, alongside Lenora and Leona, in a period when families were fond of these smooth vowel-heavy shortenings. Separately, and much more recently, Hebrew produced Leora from or, "light", and it has been in steady use as a girl's name in Jewish families in Israel and the United States. The two histories are unrelated, and a Leora today may be named from either.
Meaningscholars disagree
Two readings: "light" (Hebrew) or an evolved form of Eleanor, whose own meaning is unsettled
As a modern Hebrew name — spelled ליאורה and often written Liora — it is built on or, "light", commonly read as "my light" or "light unto me". As an English name it is the worn-down end of Eleanor–Leonora–Lenora, and the meaning of Eleanor itself has never been settled, with Occitan Aliénor offering no clear translation. Both roads are genuine; neither cancels the other.
How the name formed
- Aliénor
- Eleanor
- Leonora
- Lenora
- Leora
Related forms: Liora (ליאורה) · Lenora · Leonora · Leonor · Eleanor · Eleonora
Pronouncing Leora
lee-OR-uh
The most common American pronunciation puts the stress on the middle syllable. Families using the Hebrew name often say lee-oh-RAH or lee-OR-ah, with the final syllable fuller. Both are correct for their own tradition, so it is worth deciding which one you want said at roll call.
Nicknames for Leora
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1921255 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #294reached in 1880
- Change vs 2022
- +46.8%163 in 2025, from 111
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.
Leora in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Liora (ליאורה) in Hebrew — spelling variant
- Lenora in English — related form
- Leonora in Italian — related form
- Leonor in Spanish — related form
- Eleanor in English — related form
- Eleonora in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, New Jersey.
Leoras among us
people named Leora are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 9,861 born in 2025 was named Leora
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
Leora is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Leora is headed
Leora 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.
Leora beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Leora in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds for most English speakers, with no silent letters and no unexpected consonants.
- Comes with short forms that already stand on their own — Nora, Lee, Lea — so a child has options without needing a second name.
- Works in both English and Hebrew, which is rare for a name this short and this easy to say.
- On American birth records continuously since record-keeping began, so it is a revival rather than a new coinage.
- Recognizable as a relative of Eleanor and Leonora, which gives it an instantly familiar family resemblance.
- It sits in a crowded neighborhood of near-identical names — Leora, Liora, Lenora, Leona, Nora, Lenore. Expect to spell it, and expect the occasional letter addressed to Leona.
- The two pronunciations (lee-OR-uh and lee-oh-RAH) both have legitimate claims, so a Leora may spend her life gently correcting one or the other depending on the room.
- It is still strongly represented among the oldest generations of Americans, which means some people will recognize it as a great-aunt's name before they think of it as a child's — a reaction that fades fast once a young Leora is standing there.
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What they receive
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Leora
Feminine · #1352 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Leoras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,100 people named Leora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Leora in 2025?
- Leora ranks #1352 among US girl names in 2025, with 163 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Leora?
- About 1 in every 9,861 US girls born in 2025 was named Leora — 163 in all.
- Will my child share the name Leora with classmates?
- Leora will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Leora
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aubrie#1352 · Lillianna#1352 · Devorah#1352 · Annabella#1352 · Lexie#1352 · Hailee#1352 · Gianni#1348 · Farah#1348
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Leora? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Leora and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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