Lura
Feminine
Lura is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 9,550 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Lura appears in nineteenth-century American registers in real numbers with no European ancestor to explain it — a name that seems to have been made from the sound of others rather than inherited from any of them.
How old is the name Lura?
Lura was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Lura alive today was born around 1923, making them about 102 years old. About 2,600 people named Lura are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lura most popular?
Lura peaked in 1885, reaching #200 nationally. See the whole 1885 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Lura
Our story of Lura begins with a sound that was doing well. Laura was common, Lula was common, Cora and Nora and Dora were everywhere, and a name that borrowed a little from each of them would sound familiar the first time anybody heard it. Somebody wrote Lura on a certificate in the middle of the nineteenth century, and then several thousand other families did the same, mostly in the American South and Midwest. No book, no saint, no immigrant tradition — just four letters that fitted the shape of their decade exactly.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No established origin. It is most often read as a variant of Laura, from the Latin laurus, 'laurel', or as a shortening of Lurana or Lurline. It has also been connected to the German Lore and to Lorelei. None of these is documented as the source; the name enters American records already formed.
Pronouncing Lura
LOOR-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some families said LYOOR-uh with a y-glide; both are recorded.
Nicknames for Lura
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1918200 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #200reached in 1885
- Change vs 2021
- −18.2%9 in 2024, from 11
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.
Lura in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lurah in English — spelling variant
- Lurana in English — related form
Luras among us
people named Lura 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
Lura has already lived its whole cycle: it rose, had its era, and has stepped off the charts. The fashion question is behind it — what lies ahead is the waiting room where revivals begin, once a name's first generation has grown distant enough for it to sound fresh again.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Two soft syllables with no hard consonants and no pronunciation risk.
- It is genuinely rare now while being entirely traditional in the American registers.
- Short enough for a very young child to write.
- It has no recovered meaning or documented parent name.
- It is strongly period-coded to the nineteenth century.
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Lura
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Luras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Lura are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lura in 2025?
- Lura is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Lura with classmates?
- Lura 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 Lura? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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