Coraline
Meaning
created by composer Adolphe Adam for his opera Le Toréador (1849), probably from Coralie
The story
Coraline was created by the French composer Adolphe Adam for one of the main characters in his opera Le Toréador of 1849, and, Behind the Name adds with a hedge, he probably based it on Coralie, itself either a French form of Koralia or a derivative of the Latin coralium, "coral". The American record kept it almost invisible for over a century, including a flicker of about 6 girls back in the 1970s, then moved all at once: about 140 in the 2000s, about 4,170 in the 2010s, and about 2,470 so far this decade. An opera stage in 1849, a coral chain with a hedge at each link, and a name far older than the modern stories readers usually meet it in.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Coraline peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
238 people · the #22,462 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 4
Among people named Coraline living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 105 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Coraline
Most people given the name Coraline in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Coraline deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Coraline truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Coraline fits with your family’s names and surname.
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