Lorra
A feminine given name of Irish origin meaning "noisy and boisterous woman".
Name Census estimates that about 362 living Americans carry the first name Lorra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lorra today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lorra births was 1965 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lorra. 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.
People living today
362
~ 1 in 946,835 Americans
Peak year
1965
30 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
1991 SSA rank
#14,456
Tracked since 1947
Census
Lorra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 481 people with the first name Lorra, which placed it at #21,195 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
#21,195
National first-name rank
People counted
481
481 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lorra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lorra is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Black (9.4%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Lorra 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 Lorra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.5% · 368
- Black or African American9.4% · 45
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 23
- Two or more races4.8% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 3
Popularity
Lorra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lorra from the 1940s through to the 1990s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 200 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lorra 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 Lorra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lorras live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lorra
The name Lorra has its origins in the ancient Celtic language and culture. It is believed to have derived from the Proto-Celtic word "lur" or "lur-a," which means "earth" or "land." This suggests that the name might have been associated with the natural world or the concept of fertility in early Celtic societies.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Lorra can be traced back to the 5th century AD, where it appears in the Welsh Triads, a collection of traditional Welsh folklore and historical references. In these texts, Lorra is mentioned as the name of a minor character, possibly a farmer or landowner.
During the Middle Ages, the name Lorra gained some popularity among the Celtic populations of the British Isles, particularly in Wales and Cornwall. It was often given to children born in rural areas or to those with a strong connection to the land and agricultural traditions.
In the 12th century, a notable figure named Lorra ap Cadwgan was recorded in the Brut y Tywysogion, a chronicle of the princes of Wales. Lorra ap Cadwgan was a Welsh landowner and minor noble who played a role in the conflicts between the Welsh and the Norman invaders during that period.
Another historical figure with the name Lorra was Lorra of Brittany, a Breton noblewoman who lived in the 14th century. She was known for her involvement in the Breton War of Succession and her support for the House of Montfort in the conflict.
In the 16th century, a Scottish woman named Lorra MacLeod gained recognition for her roles as a healer and midwife in the Hebrides Islands. She was respected for her knowledge of traditional Celtic remedies and her assistance in childbirth.
Moving forward to the 19th century, a woman named Lorra Pettengill became a notable figure in the early American women's rights movement. Born in 1816 in New York, she was an active campaigner for women's suffrage and participated in various political conventions and rallies advocating for equal rights.
While the name Lorra has largely fallen out of common use in modern times, it remains a significant part of Celtic history and culture, reflecting the deep-rooted connection between the ancient Celts and the land they inhabited.
People
Lorra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lorra 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
Lorra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lorra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 362 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lorra 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 946,835 US residents.
Is Lorra a common name?
We classify Lorra as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 436 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lorra most popular?
The single biggest year for Lorra was 1965, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lorra is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lorra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 481 people with the name Lorra, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,195 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 Lorra 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 Lorra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lorra appears almost entirely female. Of the 481 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 Lorra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lorra is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Black (9.4%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Lorra most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lorra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.5% (368 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 Lorra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lorra a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lorra 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 Lorra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lorra 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 Lorra 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 Lorra?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.