Cora

Where Cora comes from

Apparently brought up in English literature by James Fenimore Cooper in The Last of the Mohicans (1826), but compare a female heroine of this name in Jean-François Marmontel's Les Incas (1777) and the Ancient Greek epithet Κόρη (Kórē) for Περσεφόνη (Persephónē). It could also refer directly to κόρη (kórē, “maiden”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Cora
  • Ancient Greek
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    Cora Sandel born
    Norwegian writer and painter
  2. 1880
    First SSA year, and the peak
    #15 among girls with 1,045 babies — the first year on record, and still its best.
  3. 1890
    Cora Witherspoon born
    actress
  4. 2019
    The comeback
    Back to #71 after sinking to #876 in 1988.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Ancient Greek.
Namesakes
  • Cora Sandel · Norwegian writer and painter, 1880–1974
  • Cora Witherspoon · actress, 1890–1957
  • Cora Sue Collins · American child actress, 1927–2025
  • Cora Jade · American professional wrestler, born 2001
  • Cora Diamond · American philosopher, born 1937

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.