Tor
Masculine · “thunder”
Thor's name is the word thunder. Old Norse Thorr descends from a Germanic word for thunder that also gives English thunder and German Donner, so the god is not named after the thunder; he is the thunder, personified.
How old is the name Tor?
Tor first appears in US birth records in 1949 — 76 years ago. The typical Tor alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 800 people named Tor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tor most popular?
Tor peaked in 1965, reaching #1405 nationally. Today it ranks #6803, 5,398 places below that high. See the whole 1965 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Thorr to Tor
The story of Tor
Thor was the most widely worshipped of the Norse gods among ordinary people, and Thor-names are correspondingly the most common in the Norse record; unlike Odin, whose name almost never appears in personal names, Thor is everywhere. Conversion did not remove them, which is why Scandinavia and northern England still carry Thorsten, Thurston, Thorleif and Thorbjorn a thousand years later. Tor on its own is a standard Norwegian and Swedish man's name. It reached United States records with Scandinavian migration and had its best year in 1965. In English the same three letters name a rocky hill, which is an unrelated Celtic word.
Meaning
thunder
Old Norse Thorr, from a Germanic word for thunder, cognate with English thunder, German Donner and Dutch donder. The modern Scandinavian Tor is the god's name used as a personal name, and it opens a large family: Torbjorn, Torstein, Torvald, Thora. Thursday is Thor's day, translating the Latin day of Jupiter, who was also a thunder god.
How the name formed
- Thorr
- Tor
Related forms: Tor · Tore · Thor · Thor
Pronouncing Tor
TOOR
One syllable. Norwegian gives the vowel a rounded oo quality that English does not have; American speakers say TOR, rhyming with more.
Nicknames for Tor
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
- 1949
- Most boys named
- 196530 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1405reached in 1965
- Change vs 2023
- +71.4%12 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.
Tor in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tor in Norwegian — same name
- Tore in Swedish — same name
- Thor in Danish — same name
- Thor in Icelandic — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Washington.
Tors among us
people named Tor are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was named Tor
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 Hershal test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tor's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Hershal climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Hershal's path sketches the road Tor is walking now.
Tor 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
Tor beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tor in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Norse meaning and one of the best-known gods in any pantheon.
- Three letters and one syllable, impossible to misspell.
- An ordinary name across Norway and Sweden, which gives it a real community.
- The comic-book and film version of the god is the strongest modern association.
- In English tor is also a word for a rocky hilltop.
- It is short enough that people will assume it abbreviates something.
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What they receive
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Tor
Masculine · #6803 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tors are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Tor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tor in 2025?
- Tor ranks #6803 among US boy names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tor?
- About 1 in every 142,340 US boys born in 2025 was named Tor — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tor with classmates?
- Tor will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tor
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zeb#6803 · Buster#6803 · Fabien#6803 · Eston#6803 · Tyjuan#6803 · Fuad#6803 · Aaiden#6803 · Sanford#6803
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tor? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tor and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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