Loral
A feminine name of uncertain origin, perhaps related to "laurel" meaning wreath or crown.
Name Census estimates that about 71 living Americans carry the first name Loral. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 65.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Loral today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Loral births was 1934 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Loral. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Loral. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
71
~ 1 in 4,827,526 Americans
Peak year
1934
14 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1938 SSA rank
#3,827
Tracked since 1914
Census
Loral in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 258 people with the first name Loral, which placed it at #32,555 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
#32,555
National first-name rank
People counted
258
258 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Loral
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loral is White at 89.1%. The next largest groups are Black (5.8%) and Hispanic (1.9%). 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 Loral 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 Loral at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.1% · 230
- Black or African American5.8% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 4
- Two or more races1.6% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Loral
Loral is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 155 total registrations, 54 (34.8%) were male and 101 (65.2%) were female.
Loral as a male name
- Ranked #3,827 in 1938
- 5 male births in 1938
- Peak: 1921 (8 births)
Loral as a female name
- Ranked #15,640 in 2005
- 6 female births in 2005
- Peak: 1956 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Loral on both sides of the split. Of the 263 people counted with this name, 53 were male (20.2%) and 210 were female (79.8%).
Popularity
Loral: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Loral from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 46 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Loral 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 Loral during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Loral
The name Loral is an uncommon modern creation with an uncertain origin and meaning. While it may have been derived from the Latin word "lorum," meaning "thong" or "whip," there is no definitive historical or linguistic evidence to support this connection.
Some sources suggest that Loral could be a feminized version of the male name Loren, which is believed to stem from the French surname "Laurent," derived from the Latin name "Laurentius," meaning "from Laurentum." However, this proposed connection remains speculative.
The earliest recorded use of the name Loral dates back to the late 20th century, with no known references in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records. Due to its recent coinage, there are no well-known historical figures associated with this name.
One notable individual who bears the first name Loral is Loral Faulkner, an American computer scientist and entrepreneur born in 1980, known for her work in data science and machine learning. However, beyond this contemporary example, the historical record of individuals with the name Loral is scarce.
As a relatively new name, Loral has yet to establish a substantial historical legacy or cultural significance. Its origins and meaning remain obscure, and it has not been widely adopted or documented in various cultures and time periods.
People
Loral + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Loral 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
Loral: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Loral?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 71 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Loral 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 4,827,526 US residents.
Is Loral a common name?
We classify Loral as "Very Rare". It ranks above 59.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 155 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Loral most popular?
The single biggest year for Loral was 1934, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Loral is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Loral in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 258 people with the name Loral, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,555 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 Loral 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 Loral?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Loral on both sides of the split. Of the 263 people counted with this name, 53 were male (20.2%) and 210 were female (79.8%). 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 Loral?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Loral is White at 89.1%. The next largest groups are Black (5.8%) and Hispanic (1.9%). 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 Loral most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Loral in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.1% (230 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 Loral in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Loral a female name?
Yes, 65.2% of people registered as Loral 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 Loral still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Loral 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 Loral 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 the name Loral?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.