Lori
Masculine
Lori is given to girls far more often — 341,911 girls against 853 boys since 1880. See Lori as a girl name
Lori is short for three long names that have nothing in common, and it outgrew all of them: for most bearers now it is not short for anything at all.
How old is the name Lori?
Lori first appears in US birth records in 1954 — 71 years ago. The typical Lori alive today was born around 1967, making them about 58 years old. About 700 people named Lori are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lori most popular?
Lori peaked in 1962, reaching #1091 nationally. See the whole 1962 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Lori
A short form stops being short when enough people are given it directly. The process takes about a generation: first it is a nickname, then it appears on documents for people who also have the long name, then children arrive who were christened with the short form and nothing else — and at that point it has become a name in its own right, with its own history starting from zero. Half the names in the American record went through that transition in the twentieth century. The sign that it has finished is that the long forms start to sound formal and slightly foreign to the people carrying the short one.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Laura is a Latin tree name; Lorraine is a French region; Delores is a Spanish devotion about sorrows. The three disagree about everything, and a short form that could come from any of them cannot carry a meaning from one.
Pronouncing Lori
LOR-ee
Two syllables, stress at the front. Identical to Laurie and Lorrie.
Nicknames for Lori
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 boys named
- 196249 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1091reached in 1962
- Change vs 1987
- −22.2%7 in 1988, 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.
Loris among us
people named Lori 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
Lori 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, warm and completely unambiguous in speech.
- It works from a classroom to a professional signature.
- Three different formal names are available if one is ever wanted.
- Laurie, Lorrie and Lauri are all in use and hers will be written as one of them.
- It is strongly associated with particular American decades.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well, though the girls hold nearly all of it.
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Lori
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Loris are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Lori are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lori in 2025?
- Lori is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Lori with classmates?
- Lori will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More L names
The most-given names starting with L, all years combined.
Larry#1084 · Lawrence#518 · Louis#249 · Logan#53 · Liam#1 · Lucas#10 · Luke#33 · Leonard#637
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lori? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lori and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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