Lenora
A feminine name meaning "light" or "shining light".
Name Census estimates that about 14,864 living Americans carry the first name Lenora. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lenora today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lenora births was 1924 (678 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lenora. 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 Lenora with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
15K
~ 1 in 23,059 Americans
Peak year
1924
678 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1936 SSA rank
#714
Tracked since 1880
Census
Lenora in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,271 people with the first name Lenora, which placed it at #1,880 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
#1,880
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
15,271 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lenora
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lenora is White at 55.0%. The next largest groups are Black (32.3%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Lenora 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 Lenora at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.0% · 8,397
- Black or African American32.3% · 4,929
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 764
- Two or more races3.6% · 545
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 427
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 209
Gender
Gender distribution for Lenora
Out of the 36,525 babies given the name Lenora 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.
Lenora as a male name
- Ranked #3,844 in 1936
- 5 male births in 1936
- Peak: 1926 (7 births)
Lenora as a female name
- Ranked #714 in 2024
- 392 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (678 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lenora appears almost entirely female. Of the 15,277 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Lenora: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lenora 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 6,100 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
Lenora 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 Lenora during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lenoras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. Texas, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Lenora, while Alaska, Rhode Island, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 615 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lenora
Lenora is a feminine given name with origins tracing back to ancient Latin. It is derived from the Latin word "lena" which means "alluring" or "charming". This name was commonly used in ancient Rome and its surrounding regions during the height of the Roman Empire.
The name Lenora is believed to have first appeared in written form in the works of Roman poets and playwrights from the 1st century BC to the 2nd century AD. It was a popular name among the upper classes of Roman society and was often given to daughters born into wealthy and influential families.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Lenora was Lenora Aemilia, a Roman noblewoman who lived in the 1st century AD. She was known for her beauty and her patronage of the arts, and her name was mentioned in various historical accounts and literature from that time period.
In the Middle Ages, the name Lenora spread throughout Europe, particularly in regions that were once part of the Roman Empire, such as Italy, France, and Spain. It was also adopted by Germanic and Scandinavian cultures, where it took on slightly different spellings like Lenore or Leonora.
A notable figure in history with the name Lenora was Lenora of Aquitaine (1137-1199), a powerful noblewoman and duchess who played a significant role in the political and cultural affairs of medieval France. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support of the Troubadour tradition.
During the Renaissance period, the name Lenora gained popularity among the artistic and intellectual circles of Italy and other parts of Europe. One famous bearer of the name was Lenora Salviati (1540-1586), an Italian noblewoman who was a patron of the arts and a close friend of the renowned painter and sculptor, Michelangelo.
In the 19th century, the name Lenora was immortalized in literature through the works of American poet Edgar Allan Poe. His poem "Lenore" (1843) tells the story of a grief-stricken lover mourning the loss of his beloved Lenore, and it helped to popularize the name in the United States and other English-speaking countries.
Other notable individuals named Lenora throughout history include Lenora Conyers (1654-1694), an English actress and dancer who performed in the theaters of London during the Restoration period, and Lenora Addington (1805-1899), an American educator and social reformer who advocated for women's rights and the abolition of slavery.
People
Lenora + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lenora as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lenora: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lenora?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14,864 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lenora 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 23,059 US residents.
Is Lenora a common name?
We classify Lenora as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 36,525 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lenora most popular?
The single biggest year for Lenora was 1924, when 678 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lenora is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lenora in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,271 people with the name Lenora, or 5.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,880 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 Lenora 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 Lenora?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lenora appears almost entirely female. Of the 15,277 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Lenora?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lenora is White at 55.0%. The next largest groups are Black (32.3%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Lenora most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lenora in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.0% (8,397 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 Lenora in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lenora a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Lenora 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 Lenora still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lenora 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 Lenora 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 have Lenora as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Lenora, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.