girl's name
Norah
NOR-uh
- Origin Irish
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 48,870
the United States
#262
2025 births
Norah is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "honor," and it exists because Irish speakers clipped the front syllable off Honora. It ranks 163rd in Northern Ireland and 262nd in the United States.
- Norah is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in 2017, when 2,156 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,784 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Norah 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 | 125 |
| 1890s | 146 |
| 1900s | 114 |
| 1910s | 184 |
| 1920s | 230 |
| 1930s | 158 |
| 1940s | 238 |
| 1950s | 256 |
| 1960s | 213 |
| 1970s | 238 |
| 1980s | 327 |
| 1990s | 357 |
| 2000s | 4,465 |
| 2010s | 17,744 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 9,203 |
What Norah means
Norah means honor, inherited from Honora. The Latin honor is the whole of it — the name was shortened from the front, so the syllable carrying the meaning is the one that was dropped.
Where Norah comes from
Norah is a short form of Honora, from the Latin honor, which the Normans brought to Ireland in the twelfth century. Irish speakers clipped the initial syllable, giving Nóra, and that became one of the most common women's names in Ireland for centuries — so common that in Irish-English writing Nora functions almost generically. The name is separately a short form of Eleanor, which is a different name of unresolved origin, and of the Arabic Nur, meaning light, which is unconnected. Ibsen's A Doll's House gave it a specific weight in European theater: Nora walking out and slamming the door in 1879 was so scandalous that Ibsen was pressured into writing an alternative ending for German productions, which he called a barbaric outrage.
Norah in use
Norah ranks 163rd in Northern Ireland with 12 births in 2024 and 262nd in the United States with 1,191 births, and it appears in every market we hold — 233rd in France with 245 births, 240th in England and Wales, 175th in Scotland. It is rising with a peak in 2017, and our records carry it from 1880. Nora without the h is counted separately and ranks higher in most markets.
How popular is Norah?
In 2025, Norah was given to 1,191 babies in the United States, ranking #262 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Norah 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 Norah
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Norah also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Norah over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Norah 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.
Sibling names for Norah
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Norah — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Norah
What does the name Norah mean?
Norah means "honor," inherited from Honora — the syllable carrying the meaning is the one that was dropped.
Is Norah Irish?
The clipping is. Honora came with the Normans and Irish speakers shortened it to Nóra.
Is Norah short for Eleanor?
It serves that way too, and separately for the Arabic Nur, meaning light — three unconnected sources.
How popular is Norah?
163rd in Northern Ireland and 262nd in the United States.
Is Norah a girl's or a boy's name?
Norah is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Norah?
Norah has 2 syllables.
Is Norah a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Norah currently ranks #93 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.