Gloria
Meaning of Gloria
Gloria is a daughter of Latin, born from the very word for “glory,” and she still strolls through life as though trumpets were playing in the background. Italians pronounce her meltingly as GLAW-ryah (ɡlɔrˈja), while English speakers glide to GLAWR-ee-uh (ɡlɔrˈiə); either way, the sound rings like cathedral bells after a wedding mass. In old Rome the term gloria marked triumphal processions, and centuries later the hymn “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” carried that radiance into every church aisle. The name crossed the Atlantic on waves of opera and silver-screen glamour—think Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and Hollywood icons such as Gloria Swanson—so by the 1950s it glittered among America’s Top 40 girls’ names. Although her star has since drifted to a comfortable mid-list orbit (hovering around No. 500 in recent U.S. charts), Gloria remains a rosy vintage gem, equal parts velvet and brass. Parents who choose her today often seek a classic with built-in fanfare: short, multilingual, impossible to mispronounce, and ever ready to raise the curtain on life’s little victories.
Pronunciation
Italian
- Pronunced as GLAW-ryah (/ɡlɔrˈja/)
English
- Pronunced as GLAWR-ee-uh (/ɡlɔrˈiə/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Gloria
| Gloria Steinem is an American journalist and activist who became a prominent leader of the women's rights movement in the late 1960s and 1970s. |
| Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-American singer who has won eight Grammy Awards, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and sold over 100 million records worldwide. |
| Gloria Swanson was an American actress who rose to fame in 1920s silent films, earned three Oscar nominations, and won a Golden Globe for her role in Sunset Boulevard. |
| Gloria Frances Stuart was an American actress who earned a Screen Actors Guild Award and Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for her role in Titanic. |
| Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa was a pioneering scholar in Chicana feminism and queer theory, best known for her influential book "Borderlands/La Frontera" that explored life on the Mexico-Texas border and cultural marginalization. |
| Gloria Romero, the "Queen of Philippine Cinema," starred in over 300 productions across seven decades and was the highest-paid movie star of the 1950s. |
| Gloria Allred is an American attorney celebrated for her high-profile, feminist-focused legal cases and her induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame. |
| Gloria Vanderbilt was an American heiress and socialite involved in the sensational 1930s "trial of the century" custody battle. |
| Gloria Gaynor is an American singer famous for her disco hit "I Will Survive." |
| Gloria Trevi is a best-selling Mexican singer-songwriter, celebrated as the "Mexican Queen of Pop" and also known for the media-covered Trevi–Andrade scandal involving abuse allegations. |
| Gloria Hollister Anable was an American explorer and conservationist who set deep-sea diving records and helped establish the Nature Conservancy's first land preserve. |
| Gloria Elizabeth Reuben is a Canadian-American actress, producer, and singer celebrated for her Emmy-nominated role on ER and her performance in the film Lincoln. |
| Gloria Emerson was an American author and journalist who won the National Book Award for her book on the Vietnam War. |
| Gloria Naylor was an American novelist celebrated for works like The Women of Brewster Place, Linden Hills, and Mama Day. |
| Gloria Diaz - Gloria Maria Aspillera Diaz is a Filipino actress, model, and beauty queen who made history as the first Filipino to win Miss Universe in 1969. |
