Orna
A feminine name of uncertain meaning, likely derived from Hebrew.
Name Census estimates that about 31 living Americans carry the first name Orna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Orna today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orna births was 1965 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orna. 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 Orna. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
31
~ 1 in 11,056,592 Americans
Peak year
1965
10 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1973 SSA rank
#8,117
Tracked since 1924
Popularity
Orna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orna from the 1920s through to the 1970s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 21 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Orna remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Orna 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 Orna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ornas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Orna
The name Orna has its origins in the ancient Hebrew language, tracing back to the biblical era around the 5th century BCE. It is derived from the Hebrew word "or," meaning light, and is believed to be a variant of the more common Hebrew name Orah.
One of the earliest known references to the name Orna can be found in the Old Testament of the Bible. In the Book of Ezra, Orna is mentioned as the name of a Levite who returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity.
During the Middle Ages, the name Orna gained popularity among Jewish communities across Europe and the Middle East. It was often associated with the virtues of enlightenment, wisdom, and spiritual guidance.
In the 15th century, a notable figure named Orna ben Moses Strelisk, a respected Jewish scholar and philosopher from Poland, gained recognition for his writings on Talmudic literature and Jewish mysticism.
In the 18th century, Orna Yissachar Khottner, a prominent rabbinical scholar and author from Hungary, left a lasting impact on Jewish intellectual discourse with his commentaries on the Talmud and Midrash.
Orna Porath, an Israeli scientist and immunologist born in 1924, made significant contributions to the field of cellular immunology and was awarded the prestigious Israel Prize in 1979 for her groundbreaking research.
Orna Ben-Naftali, an Israeli legal scholar and professor born in 1957, is renowned for her work in international humanitarian law and human rights, having served as the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the College of Management Academic Studies in Israel.
Throughout its long history, the name Orna has been cherished for its associations with illumination, wisdom, and intellectual pursuits, reflecting the enduring cultural values of the Hebrew tradition.
People
Orna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orna 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
Orna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 31 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orna 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 11,056,592 US residents.
Is Orna a common name?
We classify Orna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 47% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 42 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orna most popular?
The single biggest year for Orna was 1965, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orna is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Orna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Orna 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.
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.