Medora
Medora was given to 7 girls in 2025, #12,729 among girls’ names; 759 Americans have been recorded with it since 1885 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Medora by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Medora mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Medora is “a female given name.”
The given name was first used by Lord Byron in The Corsair (1814).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Medora?
#12,729 among girls’ names, 2025
Medora entered the girls’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #12,729 in 2025.
25 babies in 1920, the peak
Medora peaked in 1920, when 25 girls were given it, #1,687 among girls’ names. The 7 births of 2025 are 28% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #12,729 | 4.4 |
| 2023 | 5 | #16,782 | 3.1 |
| 2022 | 5 | #16,905 | 3.0 |
| 2019 | 8 | #12,060 | 4.8 |
| 2017 | 5 | #17,560 | 2.9 |
| 2010 | 5 | #18,888 | 2.8 |
| 2005 | 5 | #18,239 | 2.7 |
| 2004 | 7 | #13,710 | 3.8 |
| 2003 | 7 | #13,350 | 3.8 |
| 2000 | 5 | #16,666 | 2.8 |
Every recorded year (87)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 8 | #11,035 | 4.5 |
| 1998 | 8 | #10,767 | 4.5 |
| 1994 | 6 | #12,824 | 3.4 |
| 1993 | 5 | #14,935 | 2.8 |
| 1992 | 5 | #14,681 | 2.7 |
| 1987 | 7 | #9,428 | 4.0 |
| 1986 | 6 | #10,383 | 3.5 |
| 1982 | 6 | #9,988 | 3.5 |
| 1980 | 6 | #9,865 | 3.6 |
| 1979 | 6 | #9,717 | 3.7 |
| 1976 | 6 | #8,820 | 4.1 |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,646 | 4.1 |
| 1971 | 6 | #7,969 | 3.6 |
| 1970 | 11 | #4,959 | 6.3 |
| 1969 | 5 | #8,215 | 3.0 |
| 1963 | 5 | #7,282 | 2.6 |
| 1959 | 5 | #6,888 | 2.5 |
| 1958 | 7 | #5,238 | 3.5 |
| 1957 | 9 | #4,443 | 4.4 |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,562 | 2.5 |
| 1953 | 5 | #6,236 | 2.7 |
| 1952 | 8 | #4,361 | 4.3 |
| 1951 | 8 | #4,260 | 4.4 |
| 1950 | 12 | #3,165 | 7.0 |
| 1949 | 8 | #4,117 | 4.7 |
| 1948 | 7 | #4,488 | 4.1 |
| 1947 | 8 | #4,226 | 4.5 |
| 1946 | 5 | #5,438 | 3.2 |
| 1943 | 6 | #4,527 | 4.3 |
| 1942 | 9 | #3,347 | 6.7 |
| 1941 | 5 | #4,842 | 4.1 |
| 1940 | 8 | #3,413 | 7.0 |
| 1938 | 8 | #3,367 | 7.2 |
| 1937 | 10 | #2,873 | 9.4 |
| 1936 | 9 | #3,021 | 8.7 |
| 1935 | 10 | #2,865 | 9.5 |
| 1934 | 12 | #2,523 | 11.5 |
| 1932 | 6 | #4,246 | 5.6 |
| 1931 | 12 | #2,524 | 11.3 |
| 1930 | 10 | #2,993 | 8.9 |
| 1929 | 12 | #2,682 | 10.7 |
| 1928 | 9 | #3,363 | 7.8 |
| 1927 | 9 | #3,470 | 7.5 |
| 1926 | 13 | #2,665 | 11.0 |
| 1924 | 14 | #2,624 | 11.2 |
| 1923 | 17 | #2,238 | 14.1 |
| 1922 | 24 | #1,763 | 20.0 |
| 1921 | 15 | #2,461 | 12.2 |
| 1920 | 25 | #1,687 | 20.9 |
| 1919 | 11 | #2,937 | 9.7 |
| 1918 | 18 | #2,075 | 15.5 |
| 1917 | 20 | #1,820 | 18.5 |
| 1916 | 15 | #2,198 | 14.4 |
| 1915 | 16 | #2,020 | 16.3 |
| 1914 | 14 | #1,876 | 18.4 |
| 1913 | 8 | #2,469 | 12.8 |
| 1912 | 11 | #1,795 | 19.7 |
| 1911 | 10 | #1,618 | 23.9 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,882 | 20.2 |
| 1909 | 5 | #2,423 | 14.4 |
| 1908 | 10 | #1,406 | 29.9 |
| 1907 | 10 | #1,351 | 31.4 |
| 1906 | 10 | #1,286 | 33.9 |
| 1905 | 5 | #2,133 | 17.1 |
| 1904 | 8 | #1,443 | 29.1 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,977 | 19.1 |
| 1901 | 6 | #1,605 | 25.1 |
| 1900 | 9 | #1,392 | 30.0 |
| 1899 | 10 | #1,073 | 42.9 |
| 1898 | 6 | #1,631 | 23.2 |
| 1896 | 8 | #1,270 | 33.6 |
| 1895 | 10 | #1,100 | 42.8 |
| 1894 | 6 | #1,439 | 26.9 |
| 1890 | 7 | #1,164 | 36.8 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,413 | 28.0 |
| 1887 | 7 | #1,005 | 48.0 |
| 1885 | 10 | #725 | 75.2 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Medora a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Medora has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 87 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Medora: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Medora, and how old are they?
An estimated 251 Americans named Medora and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (33% of everyone recorded); the median is 50 years old and half are between 27 and 75. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 389 people named Medora (388 women and girls, 1 man or boy). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 273 born in the U.S. The Census count is 42% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Medora
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 Medora and names like it
- Compare Medora and OleviaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sMedora peaked in 1920.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Medora.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Medora alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.