Orla
Feminine · “golden princess”
Orla is given to both — 1,199 girls and 286 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Órfhlaith is golden princess in Irish — ór and flaith — and Brian Boru's sister carried it.
How old is the name Orla?
Orla first appears in US birth records in 1892 — 133 years ago. The typical Orla alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 900 people named Orla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Orla most popular?
Orla peaked in 1892, reaching #1278 nationally. Today it ranks #2514, 1,236 places below that high. See the whole 1892 chart.
Orla appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From ór flaith to Orla
The story of Orla
Órfhlaith was the name of Brian Boru's sister and of several medieval Irish noblewomen. Flaith names sovereignty itself as well as a prince, and the goddess of sovereignty is a central figure of Irish kingship myth. Orla is standard in Ireland and appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
golden princess
From the Irish Órfhlaith — ór, 'gold', from the Latin aurum, and flaith, 'prince' or 'sovereignty'. Orla is the anglicized spelling. The elements are ordinary Irish and the reading undisputed.
How the name formed
- ór flaith
- Órfhlaith
- Orla
Related forms: Órfhlaith · Orlagh
Pronouncing Orla
OR-lah
Two syllables, stress on the first. Irish Órfhlaith is OR-lah too, the fh being silent.
Nicknames for Orla
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
- 1892
- Most girls named
- 202471 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1278reached in 1892
- Change vs 2024
- −1.4%70 in 2025, from 71
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.
Orla in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Órfhlaith in Irish — related form
- Orlagh in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Massachusetts. International figures from National Records of Scotland, Office for National Statistics. Sources
Orlas among us
people named Orla are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 22,961 born in 2025 was named Orla
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
Orla 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 Orla is headed
Orla looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 34% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Orla beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Orla in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The golden-princess meaning is transparent and undisputed.
- That flaith names sovereignty itself is a genuinely good detail.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The Irish spelling is opaque to English speakers.
- Orla and Orlagh are both in circulation.
- It reads as specifically Irish.
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What they receive
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Orla
Feminine · #2514 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Orlas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Orla are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Orla in 2025?
- Orla ranks #2514 among US girl names in 2025, with 70 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Orla?
- About 1 in every 22,961 US girls born in 2025 was named Orla — 70 in all.
- Will my child share the name Orla with classmates?
- Orla will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Orla
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Gracyn#2514 · Maysen#2514 · Imogene#2514 · Syeda#2514 · Annalisa#2514 · Nazareth#2514 · Susannah#2514 · Winnifred#2514
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Orla? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Orla and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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