Nora
Masculine · “Latin honor”
Nora is given to girls far more often — 193,138 girls against 784 boys since 1880. See Nora as a girl name
The Normans were Norsemen. Vikings were given the mouth of the Seine in 911, and within five generations their descendants spoke French, built cathedrals and conquered England, having kept nothing of Norse but the name.
How old is the name Nora?
Nora was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Nora alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 200 people named Nora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nora most popular?
Nora peaked in 1887, reaching #679 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 10,016 places below that high. See the whole 1887 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Normant to Nora
The story of Nora
In 911 the French king granted a band of Vikings the land around Rouen in exchange for keeping other Vikings out, and the arrangement worked. Within a century their descendants had adopted French, Christianity, feudal landholding and Frankish law, and had begun exporting all of it: to England in 1066, to southern Italy and Sicily in the same decades, to Antioch on the First Crusade. The word Norman preserves the origin they had otherwise abandoned, north-man, and it became an English given name in the nineteenth century along with a wave of other medieval revivals. The male Nora in the American records of the 1880s is almost certainly a clipping of that or of Norval, running alongside the entirely separate female Nora from Honora.
Meaningscholars disagree
Latin honor, honor
Nora is usually a short form of Honora or Eleanor. Its nineteenth-century male use in America is more likely a clipping of Norman or Norval, or a transcription variant. Norman is from Old French Normant, a Northman. The male peak is 1887.
How the name formed
- Normant
- Norman
- Nora
Related forms: Norris · Normand
Pronouncing Nora
NOR-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first. There is no separate male pronunciation; the name is said the same way for either sex.
Nicknames for Nora
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 boys named
- 191716 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #679reached in 1887
- Change vs 2018
- −14.3%6 in 2025, from 7
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.
Nora in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Norris in English — related form
- Normand in French — related form
Noras among us
people named Nora are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Nora
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Nora 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
Nora beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nora in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables and four letters, nothing silent.
- Norman is available as a formal version for the male line.
- It is instantly readable and needs no spelling out.
- The name is overwhelmingly female now.
- Its male use ended before 1900.
- It will be assumed to be short for Honora or Eleanor.
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Nora
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Noras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Nora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nora in 2025?
- Nora ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nora?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Nora — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nora with classmates?
- Nora will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nora
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Buford#10695 · Toney#10695 · Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Garnet#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nora? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nora and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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