Sora
Masculine · “sky”
Sora is given to both — 663 boys and 1,799 girls since 1880. See Sora as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Sora is the sky in Japanese — and in Korean it is a conch shell, while in Hebrew it is a form of Sarah.
How old is the name Sora?
Sora first appears in US birth records in 2004 — 21 years ago. The typical Sora is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 700 people named Sora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sora most popular?
Sora peaked in 2022, reaching #1981 nationally. Today it ranks #2230, 249 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From 空 to Sora
The story of Sora
The character 空 reads as sora for sky and as ku for the Buddhist emptiness — the same graph doing both jobs, which the language finds unremarkable and outsiders find striking. Sora is used for both sexes in Japan. It appears in American records in current use.
Meaning
sky
From the Japanese sora, 空, 'sky' or 'emptiness' — the same character used for the Buddhist idea of emptiness. A Korean sora names a conch shell, and a Hebrew Sora is a Yiddish form of Sarah. All three are genuine and unrelated.
How the name formed
- 空
- Sora
Related forms: 空 · 소라 · Sora
Pronouncing Sora
SOH-rah
Two syllables, even stress. Japanese gives each mora equal weight rather than stressing one.
Nicknames for Sora
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
- 2004
- Most boys named
- 202277 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1981reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- +1.6%63 in 2025, from 62
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.
Sora in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- 空 in Japanese — transliteration
- 소라 in Korean — related form
- Sora in Yiddish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Colorado, Florida.
Soras among us
people named Sora are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 27,112 born in 2025 was named Sora
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 Geneva test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sora's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Geneva climbed just as high around 1926, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Geneva's path sketches the road Sora is walking now.
Sora 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 Sora is headed
Sora looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 17% 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.
Sora beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sora in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That one character means both sky and emptiness is a first-rate fact.
- The sky meaning is concrete and beautiful.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- It is used for both sexes in Japan.
- The three source languages are entirely unrelated.
- English speakers apply a stress pattern Japanese does not have.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Sora to the vote.
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What they receive
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Sora
Masculine · #2230 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Soras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Sora are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sora in 2025?
- Sora ranks #2230 among US boy names in 2025, with 63 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sora?
- About 1 in every 27,112 US boys born in 2025 was named Sora — 63 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sora with classmates?
- Sora will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sora
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rayaan#2230 · Tyce#2230 · Earl#2230 · Gene#2230 · Sylis#2230 · Vinny#2230 · Klaus#2230 · Damoni#2230
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sora? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sora 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
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