Holding steady, #9,457 for girls today.
Popularity of Orah since 1882
Babies named Orah per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 1892, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Orah's real moment was 1882.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 54 |
| 1890s | 65 |
| 1900s | 18 |
| 1910s | 25 |
| 1920s | 39 |
| 1930s | 5 |
| 1940s | 10 |
| 1950s | 0 |
| 1960s | 0 |
| 1970s | 0 |
| 1980s | 0 |
| 1990s | 5 |
| 2000s | 13 |
| 2010s | 14 |
| 2020s | 43 |
Meaning & origin
Orah is an exceptionally rare name in the United States. It first appeared in 1882, the earliest year of Social Security data, with a rank of 9457 and an occurrence rate of one in every 160,727 births that year. The name has not seen a significant revival; its trajectory has been stable but at a very low frequency, never ranking among the top 1000 names. As a Hebrew word meaning 'light,' Orah carries a simple yet luminous meaning. It has no top states on record, indicating its usage is scattered and minimal. For parents seeking a genuinely uncommon name with a clear etymological root, Orah offers a short, elegant option with no trendy baggage.
Orah is a Hebrew name meaning 'light.' It is a feminine variant of Oren, which also means 'pine tree' in Hebrew, but the light meaning is more directly from the root 'or.' The name appears in Jewish contexts but has remained rare in English-speaking countries, occasionally used among families seeking a short, meaningful name.
“Orah” around the world
Where Orah lands in the latest official birth statistics abroad, matched to the U.S. spelling.
France
5
babies in 2024
Sources: INSEE (France).
Nicknames & variants
Sibling names for Orah
Names that share Orah's style, for a brother or sister.
