girl's name
Aurora
uh-ROR-uh
- Origin Latin
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 100 (US)
- Births on record 117,988
the United States
#15
2025 births
Aurora is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "dawn." It was the name of the Roman goddess of the sunrise, who was said to renew herself each morning and ride across the sky ahead of the sun. The same word gives English the aurora borealis, the northern lights.
- Aurora is a name of Latin origin.
- Peaked in 2025, when 7,070 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 469 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Aurora over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 85 |
| 1890s | 161 |
| 1900s | 354 |
| 1910s | 1,389 |
| 1920s | 3,342 |
| 1930s | 2,213 |
| 1940s | 2,031 |
| 1950s | 1,780 |
| 1960s | 1,615 |
| 1970s | 1,755 |
| 1980s | 2,232 |
| 1990s | 3,698 |
| 2000s | 9,458 |
| 2010s | 32,172 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 36,924 |
What Aurora means
Aurora means "dawn" or "daybreak," taken directly from the Latin word for sunrise. In Roman religion the dawn was personified as a goddess of that name, the counterpart of the Greek Eos, which gives the name a mythological weight alongside its plain meaning.
Where Aurora comes from
Aurora comes from the Latin aurora, meaning dawn, a word traced to an older Indo-European root connected with burning or shining. In Roman mythology Aurora was the goddess of the sunrise, described by poets including Virgil and Ovid as opening the gates of the east each morning. She corresponds to the Greek goddess Eos and the Vedic Ushas, all three descending from the same reconstructed dawn-goddess of Indo-European religion. The word survived in scientific Latin as the name for the polar lights, aurora borealis, coined in the seventeenth century. As a given name in English, Aurora remained rare until the Romantic period, when classical and mythological names came back into fashion.
Aurora in use
Aurora is one of the few names shared by a Roman goddess, a natural phenomenon, and a scientific term still in use.
How popular is Aurora?
In 2025, Aurora was given to 7,070 babies in the United States, ranking #15 that year. It is one of the most popular names in the United States.
Where Aurora is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Aurora
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Aurora also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Aurora over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
4 nicknames for Aurora
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Aurora in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- French
- Aurore
Sibling names for Aurora
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Aurora — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Aurora
What does the name Aurora mean?
Aurora means "dawn," from the Latin word for sunrise.
Is Aurora a goddess name?
Yes. Aurora was the Roman goddess of the dawn, equivalent to the Greek Eos.
Is Aurora connected to the northern lights?
Yes — the aurora borealis was named after the same Latin word for dawn.
How popular is the name Aurora?
In 2025, Aurora was given to 7,070 babies in the United States, ranking #15 that year. It is one of the most popular names in the United States.
Is Aurora a girl's or a boy's name?
Aurora is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Aurora?
Aurora has 3 syllables.
When was Aurora most popular?
Aurora peaked in 2025, when 7,070 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Aurora?
Aurora is usually shortened to Rory, Ro, Aura and Auri.
Is Aurora a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Aurora currently ranks #15 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.