Find out how popular the last name Lora is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Lora.

Lora, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Lora surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lora in America

Lora is the 5001st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lora surname appeared 7,030 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Lora.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lora to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Lora

The surname Lora originated in Spain and has its roots in the Latin word "laurus", which means "laurel" or "bay tree". This name likely emerged during the medieval period, when surnames began to be adopted in Spain.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Lora can be found in the 13th-century Catalonian census records. It is believed that the name may have initially been used as a descriptive surname, referring to someone who lived near a laurel tree or worked with laurel branches.

Lora is also a place name in Spain, and it is possible that the surname derived from this location. The town of Lora del Río is situated in the province of Seville, Andalusia, and was once an important Roman settlement known as Lora or Laura.

In the 15th century, the Lora family played a significant role in the Reconquista, the period of Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors. Records indicate that Juan de Lora, born around 1420, was a renowned soldier who fought alongside King Ferdinand II of Aragon during the conquest of Granada.

Another notable figure with the surname Lora was Pedro de Lora, a Spanish explorer and navigator who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the Americas in 1493. Lora was instrumental in establishing the first European settlement on the island of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and Dominican Republic).

In the 16th century, the Lora family expanded their influence in Spain and the Spanish colonies. One prominent member was Hernán de Lora, born in 1525, who served as a colonial administrator in New Spain (present-day Mexico) and was responsible for establishing several settlements in the region.

As the surname Lora spread across Spain and its territories, various spelling variations emerged, such as Lorea, Lorea, and Laurea. These variations often reflected regional dialects or linguistic influences from other languages.

While the Lora surname originated in Spain, it eventually found its way to other parts of the world, including Latin America and the United States, due to Spanish colonization and migration patterns.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lora

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Lora.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Lora was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Lora has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Lora was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Lora, please contact us.

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