Humanverse

Nora vs Norrita

American parents have registered 193,922 Noras since 1880, against 16 Norritas. Nora is still ahead, with 6,386 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Nora against Norrita, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Nora Norrita

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Nora has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1937, when Nora had 856 and Norrita had 16.

Side by side

  Nora Norrita
Total US births 193,92216
Most in one year 6,38616
Babies in 2025 6,386under 5
Estimated living today 133,0005
Median age today 1188
Peak year 20251937
Best rank 20th girls1,999th girls
Rank in 2025 20thunranked
First recorded 18801937
Girls / boys 193,138 / 78416 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Norritas alive today are over 88; half the Noras are over 11. That is 77 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Nora and Norrita.