Liora
Feminine · Hebrew roots · “My light (Hebrew)”
Liora is a modern Hebrew name built from two of the oldest words in the language: li, "to me," and or, "light." It belongs to a family of names that took shape as Hebrew came back into daily speech — Lior, Liron, Liat, Ora — and it carries three clear vowels that open the mouth all the way through.
How old is the name Liora?
Liora first appears in US birth records in 1982 — 43 years ago. The typical Liora is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,700 people named Liora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Liora most popular?
Liora peaked in 2025, reaching #898 nationally. Today it ranks #898, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Liora appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From or (Hebrew, "light") to Liora
The story of Liora
Hebrew or, "light," runs through the language from the opening lines of Genesis onward, but Liora itself is not an ancient name. It was formed in the modern era, when Hebrew returned as a spoken language and parents began coining given names out of ordinary words and small possessive phrases — Liron, "my song," Liat, "you are mine," Lior and Liora, "my light." That wave of naming spread through Jewish communities well beyond Israel, and Liora reached American records in the closing decades of the twentieth century. It has been climbing steadily since, still uncommon enough that most Lioras go through school without meeting another.
Meaning
My light (Hebrew)
From Hebrew li ("to me") plus or ("light"); Liora is the feminine form alongside the unisex Lior.
How the name formed
- orHebrew, "light"
- Ora
- Lior
- Liora
Related forms: ליאורה · Leora · Lior · Liorah · Ora · Liora
Pronouncing Liora
lee-OR-uh
Three syllables. Israeli Hebrew places the stress on the last syllable — lee-oh-RAH — and both are correct; American speakers usually settle on the middle one.
Nicknames for Liora
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
- 1982
- Most girls named
- 2025295 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #898reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +132.3%295 in 2025, from 127
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.
Liora in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- ליאורה in Hebrew — transliteration
- Leora in English — spelling variant
- Lior in Hebrew — related form
- Liorah in English — spelling variant
- Ora in Hebrew — related form
- Liora in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Texas.
Lioras among us
people named Liora are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 5,448 born in 2025 was named Liora
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 Jalynn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Liora's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jalynn climbed just as high around 2003, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jalynn's path sketches the road Liora is walking now.
Liora 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 Liora is headed
Liora looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 30% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Liora beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Liora in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent and short enough to explain in four words, with no scholarly dispute behind it.
- Spelled as it sounds: five letters, no silent parts, no double consonants to get wrong.
- Sits in a recognizable set of modern Hebrew names — Lior, Liron, Liat, Ora — so it travels easily among relatives who bear them.
- Has ready-made short forms, Lia and Ora, that both work as full names on their own.
- Leora is an older American spelling that arrived by a different road, often as a form of Leonora, so the two get confused. Expect to spell Liora out, and to hear "Leora" back.
- Stress is the sticking point more than letters. Hebrew speakers say lee-oh-RAH, most Americans say lee-OR-uh, and your daughter will spend some time choosing which correction she bothers making.
- It reads clearly as a Hebrew name, which is a plus in many families and simply a fact to know in others.
- The name is climbing rather than settled, so it is less rare each year — still far from common, but not the same quiet corner it occupied a generation ago.
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What they receive
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Liora
Feminine · Hebrew roots · #898 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lioras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Liora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Liora in 2025?
- Liora ranks #898 among US girl names in 2025, with 295 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Liora?
- About 1 in every 5,448 US girls born in 2025 was named Liora — 295 in all.
- Will my child share the name Liora with classmates?
- Liora will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Liora
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Guinevere#898 · Ainara#898 · Maizie#898 · Naylani#895 · Liv#895 · Chandler#895 · Luisa#902 · Linda#902
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Liora? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Liora and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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