Nora Name Meaning, Origin, Popularity, Girl Names Like Nora

Nora Name Origin: Latin
Pronunciation: nor-ah
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Nora Name Meaning

Small in size but mighty at heart, Nora has a powerful meaning that makes parents swoon: honorable one. She originally started out as a diminutive of similar names like Honor and Eleanor before setting out on her own as a freestanding name. Before catching on stateside, little Nora was a long-time favorite in England and Ireland.

Nora was long-seen as an old lady name in the U.S. before turning a new leaf in the mid-2000s, her spunk finally catching on alongside similar names like Amelia and Lillian. She’s also effortlessly chic, on-trend with the fashionable Harper and Charlotte. Her short, spunk size also work well with chart darlings Luna and Nova.

Nora manages to sound both vintage and modern, allowing her to mix well both in the classroom and working world. Despite rising in the old-lady chic era, she’s remained outside the parameters of being trendy, allowing her to avoid the timestamp seen on Tiffany or Carrie. She’s also oozing with femininity but lacking frill, making her the perfect choice for parents seeking a girl name without girly-girl feels.

A variant spelling of the name is Norah and related names include Noreen and Noor. Longer name for Nora also include Leonora and Eleanora.

Nora Name Popularity

How popular is the name Nora? Here’s everything we know.

Year	Rank	# Births	% Births
1910	111	728	0.2068%
1911	116	733	0.1968%
1912	130	852	0.1689%
1913	137	856	0.151%
1914	142	1,019	0.1462%
1915	143	1,282	0.1411%
1916	155	1,285	0.133%
1917	153	1,334	0.1333%
1918	158	1,368	0.1275%
1919	160	1,359	0.1298%
1920	157	1,452	0.1306%
1921	167	1,328	0.116%
1922	181	1,186	0.1065%
1923	177	1,210	0.108%
1924	172	1,316	0.1133%
1925	171	1,294	0.1145%
1926	176	1,165	0.1059%
1927	189	1,059	0.0957%
1928	192	1,050	0.0981%
1929	191	998	0.0964%
1930	190	988	0.0946%
1931	205	863	0.0874%
1932	189	933	0.0944%
1933	198	845	0.0907%
1934	202	850	0.0879%
1935	192	876	0.0901%
1936	209	766	0.0795%
1937	201	811	0.0823%
1938	202	832	0.0813%
1939	204	826	0.0812%
1940	208	816	0.0768%
1941	211	817	0.0726%
1942	227	822	0.0651%
1943	227	828	0.0634%
1944	224	821	0.0662%
1945	226	810	0.0664%
1946	229	951	0.0644%
1947	225	1,065	0.0638%
1948	224	1,060	0.0664%
1949	218	1,167	0.0725%
1950	224	1,092	0.0678%
1951	222	1,137	0.0671%
1952	234	1,098	0.0629%
1953	238	1,119	0.0632%
1954	237	1,133	0.062%
1955	254	1,026	0.0558%
1956	243	1,139	0.0603%
1957	250	1,150	0.0598%
1958	253	1,156	0.0612%
1959	243	1,245	0.0655%
1960	237	1,321	0.0697%
1961	271	1,090	0.0577%
1962	273	1,049	0.0571%
1963	278	1,036	0.0577%
1964	278	1,012	0.0575%
1965	304	845	0.0517%
1966	296	822	0.0526%
1967	320	694	0.0457%
1968	332	654	0.0436%
1969	336	667	0.0433%
1970	360	645	0.0405%
1971	375	580	0.0386%
1972	368	552	0.0405%
1973	370	525	0.0405%
1974	370	536	0.0412%
1975	376	505	0.0393%
1976	389	481	0.0373%
1977	402	472	0.035%
1978	371	536	0.0399%
1979	403	499	0.0354%
1980	403	525	0.0359%
1981	406	513	0.0349%
1982	410	524	0.0351%
1983	418	472	0.032%
1984	396	503	0.0338%
1985	413	506	0.0333%
1986	449	435	0.0288%
1987	419	492	0.0322%
1988	395	569	0.0365%
1989	428	544	0.0337%
1990	433	541	0.0326%
1991	443	536	0.0329%
1992	474	481	0.0301%
1993	477	490	0.0314%
1994	477	483	0.0315%
1995	467	501	0.0332%
1996	448	523	0.0349%
1997	451	527	0.0356%
1998	482	492	0.0329%
1999	454	546	0.0365%
2000	504	491	0.0321%
2001	454	577	0.0383%
2002	474	559	0.0373%
2003	366	796	0.0523%
2004	304	1,023	0.0671%
2005	271	1,185	0.0775%
2006	245	1,365	0.0872%
2007	240	1,461	0.0926%
2008	215	1,529	0.0989%
2009	197	1,653	0.1106%
2010	157	1,931	0.134%
2011	137	2,226	0.1562%
2012	107	2,888	0.2027%
2013	82	3,507	0.2463%
2014	49	4,738	0.3252%
2015	41	5,319	0.3656%
2016	36	5,583	0.3872%
2017	28	6,036	0.4325%
2018	30	5,799	0.4221%
2019	29	5,899	0.4358%
2020	30	5,387	0.4232%
2021	26	5,803	0.4747%
2022	28	6,119	0.4638%

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Data via SSA.gov.

Names Like Nora

If you like Nora, you’ll love these other names like Nora.

What names are diminutives of Nora?

A diminutive is a name that’s like Nora sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Nora, but shorter.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Nonie	He (God) has favored me; ninth	Latin
Nor
Nore	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Norry	Woman of honor	Latin

What names are variants of Nora?

Mix it up with these names that are a variation of the name Nora.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Eleanora	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Lanora	Compassion; light	Greek
Noora	Form of Nora	English
Norah	Honorable one	Latin
Noreen	Form of Nóirín	Irish
Norella		English
Norelle		English
Norissa	Form of Nora	English

What names sound like Nora?

If you like how Nora sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Nora.

Name	Meaning	Origin	Popularity	Other Gender
Annora	Honor	Latin
Cora	Maiden	Greek

Eleanor	Of unknown meaning	English
Honor	Woman of honor	Latin
Nera	Candle	Hebrew
Nira	Plowed field	Hebrew
Noura	Light	Aramaic
Nura	Light	Aramaic

What names are similar to Nora?

Find a name that’s like Nora, but just a little bit different.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Betty	A diminutive form of Elizabeth.	Hebrew
Emma	Whole or universal	German
Evelyn	Desired one	English
Katie	Pure	English
Lily	Lily flower	English
Lola	The sorrows	Spanish
Lucy	Of the light	English
Olivia	Olive tree	Latin
Sadie	Princess	Hebrew

Sarah	Princess	Hebrew

Lists With Nora

Find inspiration in these baby girl name lists featuring the name Nora.

Siblings of Nora

Mamas with kids named Nora also have kids with these names.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Aaron	High mountain	Hebrew
Calvin	Hairless one	English
Dahlia	Dahlia flower	Scandinavian
Jacob	Supplanter	Hebrew

Share Your Thoughts

23 Comments

Kimberly Jul 7 at 8:47 am

My husband and I chose the name at the time simply because we loved it. How I know that the name means light in Hebrew which is a great name after experiencing a loss the first time I became pregnant. She truly has been a light in some very dark times and her smile has brought me so much joy as she grows older each day.

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Norah May 4 at 12:24 pm

I love the name norah so much probably because its my name

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Alexandra Mar 22 at 7:24 pm

I named my daughter Nora after my late grandmother Eleanor.

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Suzanne Mar 5 at 9:39 am

I love short names, so they can’t be shortened! I love old fashioned names with strong meaning.

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Kirsten Dec 28 at 9:00 am

Really it was one of the only names my husband and I agreed on. It is lovely, sounds nice with our other kids names and we didn’t know anyone personally with that name.

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Ann Aug 14 at 9:24 am

Nora is my favourite name of all time! It is sweet but sharp, contemporary but traditional, Loving but fierce! I feel she could both rule the playground and find a friend with this name. We chose Margaret as a middle name, a chose it because of st. Margaret of Scotland, who taught her husband, the king, how to read. I want Nora to be kind and goofy and teach people about what she believes in. We live in London at the moment (Year abroad as a family), and I love seeing how different accents pronounce her name. We are going to live in France for a couple of years and I love how the French pronounce it. We love to travel and aren’t going to have any more kids, (I had my tubes tied after Nora. and My husband got the snip.) So it’s just our little family, my husband and I don’t work, so we have all the time in the world to travel and see every place Nora wants to! Nora’s favourite place so far is Rome, which she adored, we have been there four times in her short 3 years of life and it fills her with joy! If I were to ever have a another kid, (A boy,) I world name him Rome, in honour of Nora’s favourite place.

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- ro Jan 12 at 11:28 pm
  
  wow, traveling the world with your family with no need to work…. how does it feel living my dream! lol. beautiful name though.
  
  Reply
Kimberly Aug 3 at 7:04 pm

Five years ago we brought a boy into this world and we called him George, at the time we didn’t know the gender so we made a list of names, boy and girl. Five years past and we weren’t expecting Nora at all, she surprised us. (We were told it was lucky we even got pregnant with George) I was worried it would no longer be my husband’s top girls’ names anymore, but it was! and we both love the name, we wanted her full name to be Eleanor in case she didn’t like how short her name was. I’m descending between two middle names right now, Nora Kate, or Nora Willow, I like Kate better with the full name Eleanor but I love the name Nora Willow. I think I’m leaning towards Willow.

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Jennifer Jul 10 at 7:58 am

We originally liked the name Cora because we’re both Avatar the Last Airbender fans and Korra is a strong character. Then we thought that Nora sounded softer and is also a combination of her aunt’s names- Nicole and Laura!

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Sarah Apr 15 at 8:34 am

This name is beautiful and timeless. It’s been my top girl name for many years. It has many meanings including honor, light, and awesome or awe-inspiring in reference to God.

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Tiffany Jul 16 at 5:25 pm

We loved how it was an older, classic name and not very common. We loved its meaning too: “light”.

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Beverly Apr 15 at 7:48 pm

All 3 of our daughters names mean “light”. And their middles names are Faith, Hope and Grace. Nora is an older name that you don’t hear much anymore. It was beautiful to me and went so well with our other children’s names. It was the perfect choice for her! I am still obsessed with it!

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- Chelsey Sep 23 at 6:32 pm
  
  Hi! I am curious what your other 2 daughters names are because we have one daughter named Meira which means light and a second daughter on the way and I would love to continue with the meaning of light!
  
  Reply
  - Chelsey Sep 23 at 6:33 pm
    
    And Meira’s middle name is Joy and our next daughter’s middle name will be Grace ?
    
    Reply
Andrea Mar 16 at 10:41 am

It was just name my husband and I could agree on. We’ve had it picked out for probably 4-5 years before Nora was born

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C Feb 20 at 9:07 am

great grandmother’s name

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DeLaney Sep 15 at 11:06 am

When we picked out her name we wanted something simple but also that isn’t that common. My husband and I both love old names. So came along Nora Leona. We both love it ?

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Rachel Jul 5 at 2:28 pm

The name Nora means bright or light. My daughter is definitely a shining light. She has a lot of love and compassion that she freely gives to others. Sometimes I do have to spell her name for others because they think I’m saying Laura. However, that doesn’t happen often!

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Faith Ashley Jun 8 at 11:31 pm

We named Nora after her great grandmother and love that the name means “light” and is derived from a name that means “honor”. We also like that it isn’t so common that you hear it often but it is common enough that it sounds familiar to most.

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Katherine Jun 8 at 1:05 pm

We chose the name Nora after my husbands mother who passed on. She always wanted grandchildren and since our Nora was the first we wanted to name our daughter In her honor.

I love that Nora is simple and classic. It’s different and pretty.

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- nora Apr 13 at 10:28 am
  
  you posted this a day before my birthday and my name is nora
  
  Reply
  - Nora Sep 10 at 11:46 am
    
    mine too
    
    Reply
Carey Ann Apr 13 at 12:49 pm

I simply feel in love with this name after meeting a little girl full of sunshine and life, and knew I would name a little girl Nora. She’s also full if sunshine and life, plus a little sass.

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