Noris
A name of uncertain meaning, possibly from Scandinavian origins.
Name Census estimates that about 56 living Americans carry the first name Noris. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 61.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Noris today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Noris births was 1924 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Noris. 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 Noris. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
56
~ 1 in 6,120,613 Americans
Peak year
1924
9 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
1985 SSA rank
#6,295
Tracked since 1921
Census
Noris in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,561 people with the first name Noris, which placed it at #9,070 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
#9,070
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,561 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
87.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Noris
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Noris is Hispanic at 87.1%. The next largest groups are Black (5.8%) and White (5.5%). 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 Noris 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 Noris at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino87.1% · 1,360
- Black or African American5.8% · 90
- White5.5% · 86
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 15
- Two or more races0.6% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Noris
Noris is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 126 total registrations, 78 (61.9%) were male and 48 (38.1%) were female.
Noris as a male name
- Ranked #6,295 in 1985
- 6 male births in 1985
- Peak: 1924 (9 births)
Noris as a female name
- Ranked #12,452 in 1990
- 6 female births in 1990
- Peak: 1981 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Noris leans strongly female. 1,365 people counted with this name were female (87.4%), compared with 197 male bearers (12.6%).
Popularity
Noris: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Noris from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 44 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
Noris 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 Noris 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 Noris
The given name Noris is believed to have originated from the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Germanic peoples who inhabited Scandinavia and other parts of northern Europe during the Viking Age, between the 8th and 11th centuries AD. The name is thought to be derived from the Old Norse word "norðr," meaning "north" or "northern."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Noris can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of historical and literary works written in the 13th and 14th centuries. These sagas often featured characters with names that reflected their cultural and geographical origins, and Noris was likely used as a descriptive name for someone who lived in or came from the northern regions.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Noris. One of the earliest was Noris Herlaugsson, a Norwegian chieftain who lived in the 10th century and played a role in the Christianization of Norway. Another notable figure was Noris Olafsson, an Icelandic chieftain and lawspeaker who lived in the 11th century.
In later centuries, the name Noris continued to be used, albeit less frequently. One example is Noris Haraldsson, a Norwegian nobleman who lived in the 13th century and served as a military commander during the Norwegian Civil War. Another individual of note was Noris Eiriksson, an Icelandic explorer and navigator who is believed to have sailed to Greenland and Vinland (modern-day North America) in the late 10th century.
Moving forward in time, the name Noris was also borne by Noris Gudmundsson, an Icelandic poet and playwright who lived in the 17th century and made significant contributions to the country's literary tradition. In the 19th century, Noris Gunnarsson was a prominent Icelandic politician and advocate for Icelandic independence from Denmark.
While the name Noris has its roots in Old Norse and was historically more common in Scandinavian countries, it has been used in other parts of the world as well. However, its usage has generally been more limited compared to other names of similar origin.
People
Noris + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Noris as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Noris: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Noris?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 56 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Noris 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 6,120,613 US residents.
Is Noris a common name?
We classify Noris as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 126 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Noris most popular?
The single biggest year for Noris was 1924, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Noris 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 Noris in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,561 people with the name Noris, or 0.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,070 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 Noris 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 Noris?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Noris leans strongly female. 1,365 people counted with this name were female (87.4%), compared with 197 male bearers (12.6%). 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 Noris?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Noris is Hispanic at 87.1%. The next largest groups are Black (5.8%) and White (5.5%). 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 Noris most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Noris in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.1% (1,360 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 Noris in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Noris a male name?
Yes, 61.9% of people registered as Noris in the SSA data are male. 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 Noris still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Noris 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 Noris 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 Noris?
See how many Americans are named Noris on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.