Lorana
Mysterious feminine name of unknown origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 32 living Americans carry the first name Lorana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lorana today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lorana births was 1959 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lorana. 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 Lorana. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
32
~ 1 in 10,711,073 Americans
Peak year
1959
9 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1992 SSA rank
#14,568
Tracked since 1911
Census
Lorana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 329 people with the first name Lorana, which placed it at #27,678 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
#27,678
National first-name rank
People counted
329
329 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
48.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lorana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lorana is Hispanic at 48.0%. The next largest groups are White (37.1%) and Black (8.2%). 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 Lorana 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 Lorana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino48.0% · 158
- White37.1% · 122
- Black or African American8.2% · 27
- Two or more races3.6% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 5
Popularity
Lorana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lorana from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 20 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lorana 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 Lorana 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 Lorana
The name Lorana has its origins in the Greek language, where it is derived from the word "loros," meaning "bay laurel." The bay laurel was a plant that held great significance in ancient Greek culture, being associated with wisdom, victory, and purification.
During the classical period of ancient Greece, the name Lorana was likely bestowed upon children as a symbol of hope for a life filled with wisdom and triumph. The earliest recorded instances of the name can be traced back to ancient Greek texts and inscriptions from the 5th century BCE.
One notable historical figure who bore the name Lorana was a Greek philosopher who lived in the 3rd century BCE. While little is known about her life, her writings on ethics and virtue were highly regarded by her contemporaries.
In the medieval period, the name Lorana found its way into the annals of Christian history. Saint Lorana was a 6th-century nun and abbess renowned for her piety and devotion to charitable works. Her feast day is celebrated on the 9th of May by some Christian denominations.
The Renaissance period saw the emergence of another Lorana, a 15th-century Italian poet and scholar who contributed to the humanist movement. Her poetic works celebrated the beauty of nature and the human spirit.
In the 19th century, Lorana was the name of a prominent French botanist who made significant contributions to the study of plant taxonomy. Her extensive research and publications helped further the understanding of plant species and their classifications.
Another notable figure was Lorana Gale, a 20th-century American aviator and pioneer in the field of aviation. Born in 1892, she was one of the first women to obtain a pilot's license and played a crucial role in promoting women's involvement in the aviation industry.
While the name Lorana has its roots in ancient Greek culture, it has transcended time and geography, appearing in various historical contexts and across different cultures, each instance adding to its rich tapestry of meaning and significance.
People
Lorana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lorana 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
Lorana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lorana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 32 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lorana 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 10,711,073 US residents.
Is Lorana a common name?
We classify Lorana as "Very Rare". It ranks above 47.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 67 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lorana most popular?
The single biggest year for Lorana was 1959, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lorana is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lorana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 329 people with the name Lorana, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,678 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 Lorana 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 Lorana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lorana appears almost entirely female. Of the 327 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Lorana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lorana is Hispanic at 48.0%. The next largest groups are White (37.1%) and Black (8.2%). 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 Lorana most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Lorana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.0% (158 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 Lorana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lorana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lorana 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 Lorana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lorana 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 Lorana 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 Americans are named Lorana?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Lorana at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.