Lore
Feminine · “The back half of Eleonore”
Lore is the German short form of Eleonore, and Hannelore carries two whole names at once. German builds compounds like that freely: Hanne from Johanna, Lore from Eleonore, joined into one name that is shorter than either of the originals spelled out.
How old is the name Lore?
Lore first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Lore alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 900 people named Lore are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lore most popular?
Lore peaked in 1961, reaching #1499 nationally. See the whole 1961 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Eleonore to Lore
The story of Lore
The English word and the verb to learn come from one root about following a track. Old English lar was teaching, what was taught, and the body of it, and leornian was to acquire it; both descend from a word about a furrow or a path, which is the same image that gives Latin its word for a track and gives English delirium, literally going out of the furrow. Lore is now reserved for knowledge that arrives informally, from folklore to the lore of a game, and that narrowing happened only in the last few centuries; the older, neutral sense of simply teaching has died out entirely.
Meaningscholars disagree
The back half of Eleonore
As a German name it is a clipping and carries whatever Eleonore carries, which is itself unsettled. As an English word it is something else entirely: the accumulated knowledge of a subject, handed on rather than taught. The two meet in these four letters by accident.
How the name formed
- Eleonore
- Lore
Related forms: Lore · Hannelore
Pronouncing Lore
LOR-uh
Two syllables in German, where the final e is fully pronounced. English readers make it one and say it like the word, which is a different name in sound if not on paper.
Nicknames for Lore
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 196053 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1499reached in 1961
- Change vs 2023
- +11.1%10 in 2024, from 9
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.
Lore in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lore in German — same name
- Hannelore in German — related form
Lores among us
people named Lore 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
Lore 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
- Four letters, entirely legible, and nothing that can be misspelled.
- It is a standard German name rather than an American shortening.
- The English word behind the spelling is pleasant and easy to explain.
- English and German give it a different number of syllables and neither is wrong.
- It reads as a common noun on a list and will be taken for one.
- Laura, Lora and Lori are all commoner and all will be substituted.
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Lore
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Lores 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 Lore are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lore in 2025?
- Lore is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Lore with classmates?
- Lore will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Linda#902 · Lisa#987 · Laura#379 · Lauren#401 · Lillian#57 · Lori#1721 · Louise#514 · Lois#1666
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lore? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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