Elnora
A feminine name of American origin meaning "bearer of light".
Name Census estimates that about 4,011 living Americans carry the first name Elnora. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elnora today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elnora births was 1924 (639 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elnora. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Elnora is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Elnoras were born before 1968.
People living today
4.0K
~ 1 in 85,454 Americans
Peak year
1924
639 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
1935 SSA rank
#3,822
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Elnora
Out of the 21,372 babies given the name Elnora since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Elnora as a male name
- Ranked #3,822 in 1935
- 5 male births in 1935
- Peak: 1921 (7 births)
Elnora as a female name
- Ranked #5,480 in 2024
- 23 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (639 births)
Popularity
Elnora: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elnora from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 5,422 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elnora 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 Elnora during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elnoras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas recorded the most babies named Elnora, while North Dakota, Maine, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 412 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elnora
The name Elnora is a combination of the Hebrew elements "El" meaning "God" and "Nora" meaning "light" or "splendor." It is a feminine given name with its roots in ancient Semitic languages. Elnora can be traced back to the medieval period in parts of Europe, especially in regions with significant Jewish populations.
The earliest known record of the name Elnora dates back to the 13th century in Germany, where it appeared in local census records and birth registries. During this time, the name was occasionally used in Jewish communities across Central and Eastern Europe, though its popularity was relatively limited.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Elnora experienced a modest surge in usage, particularly in the United States. This coincided with the rise of literary works that featured characters with this name, such as the novel "Elnora" by Gene Stratton-Porter, published in 1909.
Notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Elnora include Elnora Milliken Cromwell (1875-1965), an American author and educator. Another was Elnora Ashford (1908-1988), a prominent African American musician and composer known for her contributions to the Harlem Renaissance.
Elnora Ferguson (1892-1957) was an American film actress who appeared in numerous silent films during the 1920s. Elnora Ralston (1905-1965) was another actress from the same era, starring in several Hollywood productions during the 1920s and 1930s.
In the religious realm, Elnora Gilfoyle (1928-2010) was a renowned Catholic sister and educator who served as the president of Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1979 to 1990.
While the name Elnora has never been among the most widely used, it has maintained a presence throughout various periods and cultures, carrying with it a sense of divine light and radiance.
People
Elnora + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elnora 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
Elnora: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elnora?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,011 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elnora 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 85,454 US residents.
Is Elnora a common name?
We classify Elnora as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21,372 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elnora most popular?
The single biggest year for Elnora was 1924, when 639 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elnora is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Elnora a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Elnora 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.
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.