Nora
Meaning
"honor," by way of Honora, the form Ireland made its own; also the pet form of Eleanora in Scandinavia and beyond. Long after its Ibsen heroine slammed the door, it returned as a sleek vintage favorite
Goes by Nonie
Famously borne by performer Nora Lum, known as Awkwafina, a modern revival pick. Famously borne by Nora Roberts, the name Eleanor Robertson has published more than 200 novels under.
The story
Nora came to stand on its own in Ireland, where it began as a pet form of Honora, from the Latin for honor, and grew so familiar that it became simply an Irish name in its own right. Scandinavia arrived at the same place from another direction, clipping Eleanora down to Nora. The stage gave the name its most famous bearer in 1879, when Ibsen's Nora Helmer walked out of A Doll's House and slammed the door behind her, an exit critics have been writing about ever since. In America the name had its first heyday in the 1890s, faded through midcentury into grandmother territory, then did what the finest vintage names do: waited out roughly three generations and returned sleeker than before. The climb since the 1990s has been steady and steep, and the 2020s find Nora at her American peak.
The formal names behind Nora
Nora is an established short form of each of these names.
Eleanor · Greek origin · traditionally "light," by association with Helen, though it began as the Occitan Alienor, its true root debated; queens of Aquitaine and England wore it, a First Lady dignified it, and the vintage revival returned it to the top tier. Nell, Ellie, and Nora wait inside
Leonora · French origin · variant of Eleanor, meaning disputed, traditionally light
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Nora peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
2,243 people · the #4,737 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 90,909 · median age 61
Among people named Nora living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1950s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 34 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
The Nora deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Nora 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 Nora fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Nora travels
Irish American · honor, short form of Honora; a graceful classic experiencing a strong revival
Chinese American · honor (short form of Honora)
Scandinavian · honor, light (a top name across Scandinavia and increasingly in the US)
German · honor, light
Global crossover · honor, light (short form of Honora/Eleanor); a top girls' name in Norway and the Netherlands and a fast riser in the US
Keep exploring
Names like Nora · Nicknames for Nora · Middle names for Nora · Scandinavian baby names · German baby names · Global crossover names · Irish American baby names · Chinese American baby names · Short names
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