Zora

Meaning of Zora

Zora, pronounced ZOR-uh (/ˈzɔːrə/), arises from the South Slavic lexicon—most directly the Serbo-Croatian zora, “dawn”—and migrated into the Anglophone sphere at the turn of the twentieth century, where its concise phonotactics and luminous meaning appealed to parents seeking a compact yet symbolically rich given name; subsequent cultural reinforcement followed through figures such as anthropologist-novelist Zora Neale Hurston, whose prominence embedded the name within African-American literary history while preserving its pan-ethnic accessibility. In contemporary United States vital-statistics series, Zora displays a long-tail frequency curve: after an early-century plateau in the low-hundreds, its annual incidence contracted mid-century, then re-accreted modestly during the 2010s, stabilizing near rank 650 in recent cohorts—performance that situates it outside the mainstream yet well within recognizability thresholds. Consequently, the designation balances rarity with historical depth, offering parents a culturally resonant choice unmarred by orthographic or phonological ambiguity.

Pronunciation

British English

• Pronunced as ZOR-uh (/ˈzɔːrə/)

American English

• Pronunced as ZOR-uh (/ˈzɔrə/)

• Nora
• Zara
• Flora
• Dora
• Cora
• Mora
• Lora