Lorna
Feminine
Lorna is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 28,535 girls against 22 boys since 1880.
Lorna was invented for a novel in 1869, and it is one of the few English names whose birth can be dated to a publication — R. D. Blackmore made it for the heroine of Lorna Doone.
How old is the name Lorna?
Lorna first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Lorna alive today was born around 1952, making them about 73 years old. About 17,500 people named Lorna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lorna most popular?
Lorna peaked in 1941, reaching #298 nationally. Today it ranks #2957, 2,659 places below that high. See the whole 1941 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Lorna
Lorna Doone was published in 1869 and became one of the most-read English novels of its century — a romance set on Exmoor in the 1680s, still in print and still adapted. The name appears in the registers immediately afterwards and rose steadily through the following decades, peaking in America around 1946. A biscuit was named after the novel in 1912.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
No inherited meaning. Blackmore appears to have coined it, and the commonest suggestion is that he took it from the Scottish place name Lorn in Argyll, or from the Gaelic Latharna. Neither is documented as his intention. It may equally be a feminine of Lorne or a straightforward invention.
Pronouncing Lorna
LOR-nuh
Two syllables, stress on the first. No variation between English accents.
Nicknames for Lorna
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
- 1885
- Most girls named
- 1955740 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #298reached in 1941
- Change vs 2022
- +40.0%56 in 2025, from 40
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.
Lorna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lorne in Scottish — related form
- Lorna in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Texas, California.
Lornas among us
people named Lorna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 28,701 born in 2025 was named Lorna
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 Concetta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lorna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Concetta climbed just as high around 1914, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Concetta's path sketches the road Lorna is walking now.
Lorna sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Lorna is headed
Lorna 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.
Lorna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lorna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The origin can be dated to a single novel and a single year, which very few names can offer.
- Two firm syllables with no pronunciation risk in any accent.
- It is uncommon without being unfamiliar.
- It has no inherited meaning, which matters to families for whom that is the point.
- An American shortbread biscuit has carried the name since 1912.
- It is period-coded to the middle of the twentieth century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Lorna to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Lorna
Feminine · #2957 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lornas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 17,500 people named Lorna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lorna in 2025?
- Lorna ranks #2957 among US girl names in 2025, with 56 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lorna?
- About 1 in every 28,701 US girls born in 2025 was named Lorna — 56 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lorna with classmates?
- Lorna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lorna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Klaire#2957 · Pauline#2957 · Alea#2957 · Odelia#2957 · Rahaf#2957 · Rosabella#2957 · Kenzlee#2957 · Kalli#2957
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lorna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lorna and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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