Maura
Feminine · “Moorish”
Maura is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 19,965 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Maura is the Irish Máire — Mary — anglicized, and it is also the Latin for a Moorish woman, which gives one spelling two unrelated histories.
How old is the name Maura?
Maura first appears in US birth records in 1903 — 122 years ago. The typical Maura alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 18,500 people named Maura are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maura most popular?
Maura peaked in 1964, reaching #468 nationally. Today it ranks #1631, 1,163 places below that high. See the whole 1964 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Máire to Maura
The story of Maura
Saint Maura was an early martyr venerated in Egypt and Gaul. Separately, Irish Máire was anglicized as Maura and Moira in the nineteenth century, and Irish emigration carried both to America, where Maura rose in the mid-twentieth century. It appears steadily in the registers and is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
Moorish, dark; or Mary
Two routes. As an anglicization of the Irish Máire, the form of Mary, whose own origin is unrecovered. Or from the Latin Maurus, 'Moor' or 'dark-skinned', which gives Maurus and Maura as early Christian names. Both are documented and neither is dominant.
How the name formed
- Máire
- Maura
Related forms: Máire · Maura · Moira
Pronouncing Maura
MOR-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Italian Maura says both vowels more fully, MAH-oo-rah.
Nicknames for Maura
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
- 1903
- Most girls named
- 1963418 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #468reached in 1964
- Change vs 2023
- +28.3%127 in 2025, from 99
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.
Maura in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Máire in Irish — related form
- Maura in Italian — same name
- Moira in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York.
Mauras among us
people named Maura are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 12,656 born in 2025 was named Maura
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 Josefina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Maura's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Josefina climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Josefina's path sketches the road Maura is walking now.
Maura 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 Maura is headed
Maura 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.
Maura beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Maura in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two genuine traditions can claim it, one Irish and one Latin.
- It is standard in Italian without any change of spelling.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The origin is genuinely split between two unrelated sources.
- Moira and Mara are both close enough to cause confusion.
- It is period-coded to the middle of the twentieth century in American records.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Maura to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Maura? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Maura
Feminine · #1631 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mauras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 18,500 people named Maura are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Maura in 2025?
- Maura ranks #1631 among US girl names in 2025, with 127 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Maura?
- About 1 in every 12,656 US girls born in 2025 was named Maura — 127 in all.
- Will my child share the name Maura with classmates?
- Maura will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Maura
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Brisa#1631 · Irina#1631 · Itzayana#1631 · Danica#1631 · Yael#1631 · Mika#1631 · Elanor#1631 · Kenley#1631
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maura? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maura and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle