Eleanora
Feminine form of the Latin name Eleanor meaning "shining light" or "bright one".
Name Census estimates that about 3,860 living Americans carry the first name Eleanora. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Eleanora today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Eleanora births was 2024 (304 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Eleanora. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Eleanora with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.9K
~ 1 in 88,796 Americans
Peak year
2024
304 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#886
Tracked since 1880
Census
Eleanora in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,849 people with the first name Eleanora, which placed it at #5,834 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#5,834
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,849 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Eleanora
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eleanora is White at 76.8%. The next largest groups are Black (8.5%) and Hispanic (7.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Eleanora described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Eleanora at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.8% · 2,188
- Black or African American8.5% · 243
- Hispanic or Latino7.0% · 199
- Two or more races4.8% · 136
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 61
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 22
Popularity
Eleanora: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Eleanora from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,527 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Eleanora by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Eleanora during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Eleanoras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the most babies named Eleanora, while South Dakota, District of Columbia, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 113 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Eleanora
The name Eleanora has its origins in the Medieval Greek language and can be traced back to the 12th century. It is a variation of the name Eleanor, which derived from the Occitan phrase "Alia Ænor," meaning "other Aenor" or "the other Aenor." The name Aenor likely came from the Germanic name Aenor or Ainor, which itself originated from the Germanic elements "aina" meaning "one" or "unique" and "hrod" meaning "glory" or "fame."
The name Eleanora gained popularity in the 12th century due to its association with Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the most powerful and influential figures of the Middle Ages. Eleanor of Aquitaine was a wealthy heiress, Duchess of Aquitaine, and later Queen of France and England through her marriages to Louis VII and Henry II, respectively. Her influence and reputation helped spread the name throughout Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Eleanora can be found in the 13th century with Eleanora of Provence, who was born in 1223 and married King Henry III of England in 1236. She was known for her influence on English culture and her patronage of the arts and education.
In the 14th century, Eleanora of Aragon was a notable figure. Born in 1333, she was the Queen of Cyprus and Jerusalem through her marriage to Peter I of Cyprus. She played a significant role in the politics of the Eastern Mediterranean region during her reign.
The name Eleanora also appears in religious texts. In the Bible, the name is mentioned in the Book of Tobit as the wife of Tobias. However, this is likely a reference to the name Eleanor rather than Eleanora specifically.
One of the most famous figures in history with the name Eleanora was Eleanora Duse, an Italian actress born in 1858 and widely regarded as one of the greatest actresses of her time. She was known for her naturalistic acting style and her ability to convey deep emotion on stage.
Another notable Eleanora was Eleanora Fonseca Pimentel, an Italian philosopher and feminist born in 1752. She was a pioneering figure in the Italian Enlightenment and advocated for women's education and equal rights.
In the 19th century, Eleanora Louisa Tennyson, born in 1807, was the wife of the famous English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. She was known for her support of her husband's literary career and her own poetry.
People
Eleanora + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Eleanora as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Eleanora: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Eleanora?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,860 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Eleanora going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 88,796 US residents.
Is Eleanora a common name?
We classify Eleanora as "Rare". It ranks above 95.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,008 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Eleanora most popular?
The single biggest year for Eleanora was 2024, when 304 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Eleanora is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Eleanora in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,849 people with the name Eleanora, or 0.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,834 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Eleanora in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Eleanora?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eleanora appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,845 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Eleanora?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eleanora is White at 76.8%. The next largest groups are Black (8.5%) and Hispanic (7.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Eleanora most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Eleanora in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.8% (2,188 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Eleanora in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Eleanora a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Eleanora in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Eleanora still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Eleanora in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Eleanora can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Eleanora?
Want to know how many Americans are named Eleanora? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.