Elora

Contemporary without feeling overtly modern, Elora is a winning mix of elements and sounds. It's got the popular El-prefix of Eleanor, Eloise, and Elliana, the -ora ending ef Aurora, Cora, and Nora — and while it is three syllables, it looks concise and unfussy, rather like Eliza or Elena.

Quietly and occasionally used since at least the 1890s, Elora began to steadily climb in the late 80s, after it was used in the 1988 fantasy movie, Willow. It made its debut in the US Top 1000 in 2015 and went on to the be one of the fastest rising girl names of 2023 when it broke into the Top 500 for the first time.

One (potential or perhaps minor) drawback of the name is that its etymology is unclear. One very theory is that it's a contracted form of longer names such as Elnora and Eleanora (meaning also unknown, but possibly "the other Aenor") or a twist on the Hebrew Eliora meaning "God is my Light". Alternatively, there are several places in the US called Elora, which were ultimately inspired by the Ellora Cave complex in India... a name whose etymology is, again, contested. You might even view Elora as a variant of the Greek Elara ("hazelnut, spear"), the Turkish Alara ("water fair"), the Basque Elloria ("hawthorn"), or Latin Laura ("laurel").
A recent year saw Elora appear in the US Top 400, the England and Wales Top 250, and the Netherlands Top 500.

Pronounced eh-LOR-uh.

As of October 2026, Elora ranked #354 in US births in 2025 SSA, Nameberry popularity #389.