Norah
Meaning of Norah
Norah, a streamlined sister to Nora, traces its pedigree to two sources: the Latin name Honoria, “honor,” and the medieval form of Eleanora, often read through the Greek lens of “light.” Irish parish records preserved the final “h,” and that flourish followed immigrants into North America. In the United States the name held steady in modest use for decades, then surged after 2000—buoyed by jazz vocalist Norah Jones and the broader revival of vintage -ah endings—touching its recent high at No. 136 in 2017 and now hovering near the 200 mark. Pronounced NOR-uh (/ˈnɒrə, ˈnərə/), it moves easily between English and Spanish, where families appreciate its virtue-name kinship to Honor and its succinct cadence alongside Alma or Luz. Literary nods—from Ibsen’s Nora Helmer to contemporary YA leads—add cultural texture, while the concluding “h” lends subtle distinction. Compact, bilingual, and rooted in honoris, Norah offers a polished balance of old-world dignity and modern brevity.
Pronunciation
British English
- Pronunced as nor-uh (/ˈnɒrə/)
American English
- Pronunced as nor-uh (/ˈnərə/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Norah
| Norah Jones is an American singer songwriter and musician who has sold over 53 million records, won ten Grammy Awards, and was named by Billboard as the top jazz artist of the 2000s. |
| Norah McClintock was a Canadian young adult novelist who wrote over 60 books and won five Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence. |
| Norah Vincent was an American writer and columnist for major outlets such as the Los Angeles Times and The Advocate, best known for her 2006 book Self-Made Man about living as a man for 18 months. |
| Norah Wilmot became the first British woman to officially train a winning racehorse when her filly Pat won at Brighton in August 1966, just a day after she received one of the first Jockey Club training licences for women. |
| Norah Casey is an Irish businesswoman, magazine publisher, and TV personality and broadcaster from Dublin. |
| Norah Willis Michener, wife of Roland Michener the 20th Governor General of Canada, served as Chatelaine of Rideau Hall and held a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Toronto. |
| Norah Kathleen Barlow is a New Zealand business leader and former managing director and chief executive of the aged care company Summerset Group. |
| Norah Lindsay - Norah Mary Madeleine Lindsay was a British garden designer who became a major influence on garden design and planting in Britain and across Europe between the World Wars. |
| Norah Isaac was a Welsh author, drama producer, and champion of Welsh language education who became head of the first Welsh medium school, Ysgol Gymraeg yr Urdd, in 1939. |
| Norah Simpson was an Australian modernist painter who, after returning from France in 1913 with reproductions of new works, helped ignite modernism in Sydney and influenced Grace Cossington Smith, Roy de Maistre, and Roland Wakelin. |
| Norah Mahlangu-Mabena is a South African ANC politician serving in the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature, previously MEC for Culture, Sport and Recreation and for Human Settlements. |
| Norah Gurney - Norah Kathleen May Gurney was a British archivist who served as director of the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research. |
| Norah Wellings was a British toymaker and designer known for her work at Chad Valley and for founding the Victoria Toy Works. |
| Norah Magdalene Wilson was an Aboriginal Australian community worker. |
| Canadian archivist Norah Story won the 1967 Governor General's Award for her Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature. |
