Norma
Masculine · “Rule”
Norma is given to girls far more often — 278,071 girls against 1,278 boys since 1880. See Norma as a girl name
Norma is a carpenter's tool. The Latin word meant the set square used to check that a corner was true, and from the tool came the idea of a standard, and from the standard came the words normal, enormous and abnormal. The name arrived by a different route entirely, off an opera stage.
How old is the name Norma?
Norma first appears in US birth records in 1908 — 117 years ago. The typical Norma alive today was born around 1939, making them about 86 years old. About 600 people named Norma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Norma most popular?
Norma peaked in 1932, reaching #992 nationally. See the whole 1932 chart.
Where it comes from
From norma to Norma
The story of Norma
Bellini's opera opened in Milan in eighteen thirty-one, and its heroine is a Druid priestess in Roman Gaul who has broken her vows with the enemy commander and has two children by him. The great aria in the first act, addressed to the moon, became one of the most famous pieces of music in Europe within a decade, and the name went with it into French, German and English use. Nothing suggests the name existed before the libretto; it was made for the character, out of a Latin word, in the way that opera and the novel made a good many names in that century. It reached the United States steadily through the nineteenth century and was one of the standard American women's names for the first half of the twentieth.
Meaning
Rule, standard
Latin norma is the square a builder used to test a right angle, and the metaphorical sense followed quickly: a norm is what you measure against. Enormous is literally out of square, and abnormal is away from it. Whether the name was consciously taken from the word or simply invented to sound Roman is another question, and the answer is probably the second.
How the name formed
- norma
- Norma
Related forms: Norma · Norma · Norma · Norma
Pronouncing Norma
NOR-muh
Two syllables with the stress at the front and a reduced final vowel in English. Italian and Spanish give the last vowel its full value, which makes the name sound noticeably more formal in those languages.
Nicknames for Norma
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
- 1908
- Most boys named
- 193244 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #992reached in 1932
- Change vs 1991
- −16.7%5 in 1993, from 6
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.
Norma in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Norma in Italian — same name
- Norma in Spanish — same name
- Norma in Portuguese — same name
- Norma in German — same name
Normas among us
people named Norma 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
Norma 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
- Spelled and said the same way in English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and German.
- Short, unambiguous and impossible to misspell once heard.
- It has a documented origin with a date, a city and a composer, which most names cannot offer.
- The name is on record for boys in small numbers, so it is not the absolute signal it appears to be.
- It is strongly dated to the first half of the last century in American ears.
- The English word normal sits close enough to be noticed, and children notice.
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What they receive
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Norma
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Normas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Norma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Norma in 2025?
- Norma is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Norma with classmates?
- Norma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nicholas#112 · Nathan#63 · Noah#2 · Nathaniel#140 · Norman#1196 · Nolan#65 · Neil#850 · Nicolas#177
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Norma? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Norma and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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