Lorelei
Lorelei was given to 699 girls in 2025, #441 among girls’ names; 18,189 Americans have been recorded with it since 1916 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 17,000 Americans named Lorelei and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 13 years old and half are between 7 and 23.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lorelei by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Lorelei mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Lorelei is “a female given name from German.” Its etymology gives the sense “murmuring rock or lurking rock” (Lorelei).
Borrowed from German Lorelei (“murmuring rock or lurking rock”), but not used as a given name in Germany. The Lorelei (or Lorelei, Loreleï, Lore Lay, Lore-Ley, Lurley, Lurelei, Lurlei) is an infamous maritime disaster site because of the Rhine’s current and the surrounding terrain. The shipwrecks have been subject to mythological explanation attempts since around 900 AD.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Lorelei?
#441 among girls’ names, 2025
Lorelei rose from #450 in 2015 to #441 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.39 to 0.43 per 1,000.
716 babies in 2016, the peak
Lorelei peaked in 2016, when 716 girls were given it, #451 among girls’ names. The 699 births of 2025 are 98% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 699 | #441 | 0.43 |
| 2024 | 690 | #454 | 0.43 |
| 2023 | 631 | #485 | 0.39 |
| 2022 | 715 | #442 | 0.44 |
| 2021 | 701 | #447 | 0.43 |
| 2020 | 601 | #504 | 0.37 |
| 2019 | 682 | #456 | 0.41 |
| 2018 | 659 | #472 | 0.39 |
| 2017 | 683 | #462 | 0.40 |
| 2016 | 716 | #451 | 0.40 |
Every recorded year (105)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 704 | #450 | 0.39 |
| 2014 | 653 | #482 | 0.37 |
| 2013 | 604 | #497 | 0.34 |
| 2012 | 573 | #529 | 0.33 |
| 2011 | 585 | #503 | 0.33 |
| 2010 | 548 | #535 | 0.31 |
| 2009 | 504 | #597 | 0.27 |
| 2008 | 446 | #681 | 0.24 |
| 2007 | 431 | #683 | 0.22 |
| 2006 | 380 | #736 | 0.20 |
| 2005 | 320 | #810 | 0.17 |
| 2004 | 248 | #967 | 0.14 |
| 2003 | 226 | #1,020 | 0.12 |
| 2002 | 202 | #1,057 | 0.11 |
| 2001 | 99 | #1,800 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 63 | #2,443 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 44 | #3,022 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 34 | #3,534 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 39 | #3,070 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 39 | #3,060 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 24 | #4,292 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 30 | #3,657 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 40 | #2,965 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 40 | #2,947 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 44 | #2,713 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 41 | #2,827 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 31 | #3,360 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 23 | #3,964 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 32 | #2,997 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 41 | #2,448 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 54 | #2,009 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 44 | #2,248 | 0.03 |
| 1983 | 41 | #2,337 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 54 | #1,957 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 56 | #1,926 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 53 | #1,995 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 68 | #1,654 | 0.04 |
| 1978 | 77 | #1,481 | 0.05 |
| 1977 | 64 | #1,645 | 0.04 |
| 1976 | 71 | #1,471 | 0.05 |
| 1975 | 63 | #1,581 | 0.04 |
| 1974 | 62 | #1,559 | 0.04 |
| 1973 | 48 | #1,795 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 52 | #1,710 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 53 | #1,719 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 75 | #1,399 | 0.04 |
| 1969 | 86 | #1,202 | 0.05 |
| 1968 | 73 | #1,295 | 0.04 |
| 1967 | 97 | #1,051 | 0.06 |
| 1966 | 102 | #1,027 | 0.06 |
| 1965 | 113 | #971 | 0.06 |
| 1964 | 97 | #1,115 | 0.05 |
| 1963 | 117 | #987 | 0.06 |
| 1962 | 109 | #1,036 | 0.06 |
| 1961 | 111 | #1,041 | 0.05 |
| 1960 | 115 | #1,003 | 0.06 |
| 1959 | 110 | #1,007 | 0.05 |
| 1958 | 114 | #971 | 0.06 |
| 1957 | 142 | #852 | 0.07 |
| 1956 | 137 | #847 | 0.07 |
| 1955 | 143 | #809 | 0.07 |
| 1954 | 176 | #699 | 0.09 |
| 1953 | 141 | #773 | 0.07 |
| 1952 | 114 | #864 | 0.06 |
| 1951 | 111 | #853 | 0.06 |
| 1950 | 81 | #1,015 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 69 | #1,082 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 67 | #1,089 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 59 | #1,177 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 44 | #1,313 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 48 | #1,135 | 0.04 |
| 1944 | 38 | #1,298 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 43 | #1,239 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 79 | #870 | 0.06 |
| 1941 | 82 | #800 | 0.07 |
| 1940 | 58 | #951 | 0.05 |
| 1939 | 83 | #758 | 0.08 |
| 1938 | 121 | #619 | 0.11 |
| 1937 | 26 | #1,480 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 11 | #2,616 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 15 | #2,161 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 19 | #1,811 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 18 | #1,881 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 17 | #2,002 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 17 | #1,990 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 27 | #1,514 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 36 | #1,252 | 0.03 |
| 1928 | 56 | #1,004 | 0.05 |
| 1927 | 18 | #2,137 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 16 | #2,308 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 7 | #4,250 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 6 | #4,772 | under 0.01 |
| 1921 | 10 | #3,293 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 5 | #5,424 | under 0.01 |
| 1916 | 5 | #4,840 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Lorelei a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Lorelei has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 105 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Lorelei: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lorelei, and how old are they?
17,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 18,189 Americans ever recorded as Lorelei. The median Lorelei alive today is 13 years old; half are between 7 and 23.
The 2020 Census counted 13,113 people named Lorelei (13,100 women and girls, 13 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 13,419 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 275 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,620 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,070 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 616 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 4,700 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 8,690 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Lorelei born?
The states with the most babies named Lorelei are Texas, Ohio and Florida, with 22% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 66 | #491 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 41 | #273 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 39 | #477 | 0.9× |
| California | 36 | #821 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 32 | #342 | 0.8× |
| Tennessee | 32 | #248 | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 25 | #430 | 1.2× |
| Michigan | 23 | #382 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 23 | #480 | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 23 | #502 | 0.7× |
Where Lorelei is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Lorelei is most over-represented in Wisconsin: since 1916 it was given 1.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Lorelei with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 34,997 babies since 1880, Lorelei is the most given (52% of them). In 2025 it was given to 699 of their 1,750 babies (40%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Lorelei
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Lorelei and names like it
- Compare Lorelei and LorelaiBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sLorelei peaked in 2016.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lorelei since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Lorelei: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2016The year the most babies were named Lorelei.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Lorelei alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with LMost given first.