Corah

Meaning & origin

Corah is a modern American name that first appeared in Social Security records in 1998. It likely developed as a creative variant of the more established Cora, possibly influenced by the popularity of names ending in '-ah.' Despite its recent origin, Corah saw a modest peak in usage in 2015, but has been declining since 2014; as of 2025 it ranked 7,491, with only about 1 in 114,805 newborns receiving the name. The name has not been recorded in any concentrated geographic cluster, reflecting its scattered use across the United States. Corah exemplifies the contemporary trend of respelling classic names to achieve a distinctive yet familiar sound, and its meaning remains tied to its parent name Cora, rooted in the Greek word for 'maiden.'

Corah first appeared in U.S. records in 1998, likely as a respelling or variant of Cora, a name popularized in the 19th century through Greek mythology (Kore, 'maiden'). The '-ah' ending may reflect a fashionable suffix pattern seen in names like Sarah and Leah. Its modern emergence without a clear historical root suggests a coined variation.