Nora
Nora was given to 6,380 girls in 2025, #20 among girls’ names; 193,922 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 132,000 Americans named Nora and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (68% of everyone recorded); the median is 12 years old and half are between 6 and 42.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nora by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nora mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Nora is “a female given name.”
Short form of Eleanor or, rarely, of Honora.
/ˈnɔːɹə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nora?
#20 among girls’ names, 2025
Nora rose from #41 in 2015 to #20 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 3.0 to 4.0 per 1,000.
6,386 babies in 2025, the peak
Nora peaked in 2025, when 6,386 babies were given it (6,380 girls, #20 among girls’ names). In 2024 it went to 6,148 girls.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6,380 | #20 | 4.0 |
| 2024 | 6,148 | #22 | 3.8 |
| 2023 | 6,027 | #24 | 3.8 |
| 2022 | 6,148 | #28 | 3.7 |
| 2021 | 6,281 | #27 | 3.8 |
| 2020 | 5,583 | #30 | 3.5 |
| 2019 | 5,936 | #29 | 3.5 |
| 2018 | 5,837 | #30 | 3.4 |
| 2017 | 6,067 | #29 | 3.5 |
| 2016 | 5,593 | #36 | 3.2 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 5,330 | #41 | 3.0 |
| 2014 | 4,741 | #49 | 2.7 |
| 2013 | 3,508 | #83 | 2.0 |
| 2012 | 2,890 | #108 | 1.6 |
| 2011 | 2,235 | #137 | 1.3 |
| 2010 | 1,939 | #159 | 1.1 |
| 2009 | 1,670 | #198 | 0.91 |
| 2008 | 1,560 | #216 | 0.82 |
| 2007 | 1,474 | #242 | 0.77 |
| 2006 | 1,385 | #245 | 0.73 |
| 2005 | 1,197 | #276 | 0.65 |
| 2004 | 1,043 | #306 | 0.57 |
| 2003 | 830 | #367 | 0.45 |
| 2002 | 601 | #471 | 0.33 |
| 2001 | 622 | #448 | 0.35 |
| 2000 | 540 | #502 | 0.30 |
| 1999 | 584 | #455 | 0.33 |
| 1998 | 540 | #477 | 0.31 |
| 1997 | 563 | #451 | 0.32 |
| 1996 | 557 | #450 | 0.32 |
| 1995 | 545 | #463 | 0.31 |
| 1994 | 530 | #474 | 0.30 |
| 1993 | 526 | #479 | 0.29 |
| 1992 | 524 | #472 | 0.28 |
| 1991 | 575 | #444 | 0.31 |
| 1990 | 588 | #431 | 0.31 |
| 1989 | 596 | #415 | 0.32 |
| 1988 | 606 | #397 | 0.34 |
| 1987 | 538 | #414 | 0.31 |
| 1986 | 485 | #446 | 0.28 |
| 1985 | 541 | #412 | 0.31 |
| 1984 | 559 | #391 | 0.33 |
| 1983 | 521 | #415 | 0.31 |
| 1982 | 564 | #407 | 0.33 |
| 1981 | 551 | #405 | 0.33 |
| 1980 | 571 | #400 | 0.34 |
| 1979 | 536 | #404 | 0.33 |
| 1978 | 584 | #366 | 0.38 |
| 1977 | 517 | #403 | 0.34 |
| 1976 | 517 | #396 | 0.35 |
| 1975 | 552 | #377 | 0.38 |
| 1974 | 587 | #367 | 0.40 |
| 1973 | 573 | #369 | 0.39 |
| 1972 | 604 | #364 | 0.40 |
| 1971 | 624 | #375 | 0.38 |
| 1970 | 676 | #366 | 0.39 |
| 1969 | 709 | #336 | 0.42 |
| 1968 | 696 | #329 | 0.42 |
| 1967 | 727 | #325 | 0.44 |
| 1966 | 850 | #299 | 0.50 |
| 1965 | 881 | #302 | 0.50 |
| 1964 | 1,050 | #280 | 0.55 |
| 1963 | 1,067 | #278 | 0.55 |
| 1962 | 1,076 | #274 | 0.55 |
| 1961 | 1,120 | #272 | 0.55 |
| 1960 | 1,345 | #238 | 0.67 |
| 1959 | 1,276 | #241 | 0.63 |
| 1958 | 1,178 | #253 | 0.59 |
| 1957 | 1,162 | #251 | 0.57 |
| 1956 | 1,170 | #244 | 0.58 |
| 1955 | 1,047 | #255 | 0.54 |
| 1954 | 1,161 | #237 | 0.60 |
| 1953 | 1,148 | #238 | 0.61 |
| 1952 | 1,122 | #234 | 0.61 |
| 1951 | 1,160 | #223 | 0.64 |
| 1950 | 1,116 | #225 | 0.65 |
| 1949 | 1,198 | #218 | 0.70 |
| 1948 | 1,086 | #225 | 0.64 |
| 1947 | 1,096 | #225 | 0.62 |
| 1946 | 970 | #229 | 0.62 |
| 1945 | 833 | #228 | 0.64 |
| 1944 | 841 | #225 | 0.63 |
| 1943 | 856 | #230 | 0.61 |
| 1942 | 837 | #228 | 0.62 |
| 1941 | 845 | #209 | 0.70 |
| 1940 | 843 | #209 | 0.74 |
| 1939 | 859 | #204 | 0.78 |
| 1938 | 857 | #203 | 0.78 |
| 1937 | 842 | #202 | 0.79 |
| 1936 | 791 | #210 | 0.76 |
| 1935 | 910 | #192 | 0.87 |
| 1934 | 888 | #200 | 0.85 |
| 1933 | 891 | #193 | 0.88 |
| 1932 | 969 | #189 | 0.91 |
| 1931 | 904 | #202 | 0.85 |
| 1930 | 1,015 | #190 | 0.90 |
| 1929 | 1,016 | #193 | 0.91 |
| 1928 | 1,082 | #191 | 0.94 |
| 1927 | 1,078 | #189 | 0.90 |
| 1926 | 1,203 | #176 | 1.0 |
| 1925 | 1,317 | #171 | 1.1 |
| 1924 | 1,335 | #172 | 1.1 |
| 1923 | 1,221 | #180 | 1.0 |
| 1922 | 1,219 | #180 | 1.0 |
| 1921 | 1,350 | #167 | 1.1 |
| 1920 | 1,477 | #157 | 1.2 |
| 1919 | 1,372 | #161 | 1.2 |
| 1918 | 1,382 | #161 | 1.2 |
| 1917 | 1,360 | #154 | 1.3 |
| 1916 | 1,314 | #154 | 1.3 |
| 1915 | 1,293 | #144 | 1.3 |
| 1914 | 1,038 | #143 | 1.4 |
| 1913 | 890 | #135 | 1.4 |
| 1912 | 882 | #130 | 1.6 |
| 1911 | 779 | #116 | 1.9 |
| 1910 | 753 | #111 | 1.9 |
| 1909 | 670 | #107 | 1.9 |
| 1908 | 648 | #110 | 1.9 |
| 1907 | 676 | #104 | 2.1 |
| 1906 | 644 | #101 | 2.2 |
| 1905 | 742 | #92 | 2.5 |
| 1904 | 698 | #93 | 2.5 |
| 1903 | 724 | #87 | 2.8 |
| 1902 | 724 | #86 | 2.7 |
| 1901 | 727 | #81 | 3.0 |
| 1900 | 919 | #83 | 3.1 |
| 1899 | 709 | #80 | 3.0 |
| 1898 | 868 | #74 | 3.4 |
| 1897 | 812 | #71 | 3.5 |
| 1896 | 844 | #71 | 3.5 |
| 1895 | 846 | #70 | 3.6 |
| 1894 | 854 | #68 | 3.8 |
| 1893 | 825 | #67 | 3.9 |
| 1892 | 899 | #63 | 4.2 |
| 1891 | 801 | #63 | 4.3 |
| 1890 | 835 | #63 | 4.4 |
| 1889 | 831 | #60 | 4.7 |
| 1888 | 832 | #61 | 4.7 |
| 1887 | 735 | #56 | 5.0 |
| 1886 | 708 | #56 | 4.9 |
| 1885 | 670 | #56 | 5.0 |
| 1884 | 648 | #56 | 5.0 |
| 1883 | 589 | #55 | 5.2 |
| 1882 | 539 | #58 | 5.0 |
| 1881 | 498 | #55 | 5.4 |
| 1880 | 471 | #56 | 5.2 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Nora a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nora has been given almost only to girls: 784 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Nora: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nora, and how old are they?
132,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 68% of the 193,922 Americans ever recorded as Nora. The median Nora alive today is 12 years old; half are between 6 and 42.
The 2020 Census counted 119,144 people named Nora (118,858 women and girls, 286 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 102,772 born in the U.S. The Census count is 16% 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 4,610 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 16,800 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 9,470 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 8,610 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 19,500 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 73,200 |
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 Nora born?
The states with the most babies named Nora are California, Texas and New York, with 20% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 488 | #50 | 0.7× |
| Texas | 424 | #56 | 0.9× |
| New York | 359 | #23 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 311 | #10 | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 301 | #10 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 261 | #52 | 0.6× |
| Illinois | 260 | #14 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 230 | #13 | 1.0× |
| Massachusetts | 223 | #8 | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 214 | #22 | 1.1× |
Where Nora is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nora is most over-represented in Kentucky: since 1910 it was given 1.4 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 Nora 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 234,267 babies since 1880, Nora is the most given (83% of them). In 2025 it was given to 6,386 of their 7,990 babies (80%), again the most given.
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 Nora
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 Nora and names like it
- Compare Nora and NorahBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sNora peaked in 2025.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nora since 1910.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Nora.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Nora alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with NMost given first.