girl's name
Elora
ee-LOR-uh
- Origin Invented
- Gender Girl
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 15,923
the United States
#354
2025 births
Elora is a girl's name with no settled origin. It reached wide use through the 1988 film Willow, whose infant heroine is Elora Danan, and it is also treated as a form of Eleanor and connected to the Ellora caves in India — none of which is its confirmed source.
- Elora is a name of Invented origin.
- Peaked in 2024, when 861 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 3,851 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1898.
Elora over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1890s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1890s | 5 |
| 1910s | 50 |
| 1920s | 88 |
| 1930s | 38 |
| 1940s | 51 |
| 1950s | 32 |
| 1960s | 23 |
| 1970s | 13 |
| 1980s | 133 |
| 1990s | 620 |
| 2000s | 1,041 |
| 2010s | 2,656 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 4,061 |
What Elora means
Elora has no established meaning. It is generally treated as a variant of Eleanor, whose own root is disputed, and the light or the Lord my God is light glosses attached to it come from that association rather than from the name itself.
Where Elora comes from
Elora appears in our records as far back as 1898 in very small numbers, but its modern life begins with Willow in 1988, where Elora Danan is the child prophesied to end a tyrant's reign — the name was created for the film. It is separately read as a variant of Eleanor, which came to England through Occitan and whose own derivation is unresolved. A third association is Ellora in Maharashtra, whose rock-cut temples are a World Heritage Site, though there is no evidence any English use derives from it. The honest answer is that the modern name is a coinage that later collected explanations.
Elora in use
Elora charts in all seven countries we track, and its rise follows the 1988 film rather than any earlier tradition.
How popular is Elora?
In 2025, Elora was given to 861 babies in the United States, ranking #354 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Elora 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.
How Elora is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Élora | Élora is Elora written with an acute accent, used in France, where it ranks #1,973. | 260 |
Names that peaked alongside Elora
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Elora also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Elora over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Elora
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.
Elora 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.
- Bangla
- Elora
Sibling names for Elora
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Elora — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Elora
What does the name Elora mean?
There is no confirmed meaning. It is usually treated as a form of Eleanor, whose own root is disputed.
Is Elora from the movie Willow?
Its modern popularity follows Willow closely — Elora Danan is the film's prophesied child, and the name was made for it.
How do you pronounce Elora?
ee-LOR-uh, with the stress on the second syllable.
How popular is the name Elora?
In 2025, Elora was given to 861 babies in the United States, ranking #354 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Elora a girl's or a boy's name?
Elora is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
When was Elora most popular?
Elora peaked in 2024, when 861 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Elora?
Elora is usually shortened to Ellie and Lora.
Is Elora a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Elora currently ranks #128 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.