Orah
Light or luminous one, of Hebrew origin.
Name Census estimates that about 70 living Americans carry the first name Orah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Orah today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orah births was 1892 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orah. 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 Orah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Orah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
70
~ 1 in 4,896,491 Americans
Peak year
1892
12 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,849
Tracked since 1882
Census
Orah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 168 people with the first name Orah, which placed it at #42,627 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
#42,627
National first-name rank
People counted
168
168 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orah is White at 79.8%. The next largest groups are Black (11.3%) and Two or More Races (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 Orah 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 Orah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.8% · 134
- Black or African American11.3% · 19
- Two or more races4.8% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 3
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 2
Popularity
Orah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orah from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1890s, with 65 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1890s peak, Orah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Orah 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 Orah 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 Orah
The name Orah is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language, with its roots tracing back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "or," which means "light" or "luminous." This name carries a profound symbolism, often associated with brightness, radiance, and enlightenment.
In the context of Hebrew culture, the name Orah held significant spiritual and religious connotations. It was often used to represent the divine light or the illumination of knowledge and wisdom. The name can be found in various sacred texts and historical records from the region, although specific references are scarce due to the antiquity of the name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Orah can be traced back to the 12th century. Orah ben Yaakov, a renowned Jewish scholar and philosopher, lived during this time and made significant contributions to the study of Jewish mysticism and the Kabbalah.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Orah. In the 16th century, Orah Maimonides, a descendant of the famous philosopher Moses Maimonides, was a respected scholar and teacher in her own right. She worked tirelessly to preserve and promote the teachings of her illustrious ancestor.
Another prominent figure was Orah Shammai, a 17th-century Jewish poet and writer from Poland. Her works, which explored themes of faith, love, and the human experience, were widely celebrated and influential during her lifetime.
In the 19th century, Orah Levi, an Italian-Jewish painter and artist, gained recognition for her exquisite portraiture and landscape paintings. Her works were exhibited in various galleries across Europe and are now considered treasured pieces of art history.
Orah Cohen, a 20th-century Israeli author and activist, is also noteworthy for her contributions to literature and women's rights movements. Her novels and essays explored the complexities of modern life while advocating for gender equality and social justice.
While the name Orah may have originated from ancient Hebrew roots, its symbolic meaning of light and illumination has transcended cultural and religious boundaries, making it a name that resonates with people from diverse backgrounds.
People
Orah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Orah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 70 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orah 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 4,896,491 US residents.
Is Orah a common name?
We classify Orah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 59.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 281 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orah most popular?
The single biggest year for Orah was 1892, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orah is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 168 people with the name Orah, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,627 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 Orah 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 Orah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orah leans strongly female. 149 people counted with this name were female (89.2%), compared with 18 male bearers (10.8%). 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 Orah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orah is White at 79.8%. The next largest groups are Black (11.3%) and Two or More Races (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 Orah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Orah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.8% (134 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 Orah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Orah 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 Orah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orah 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 Orah 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 Orah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.