Thora
Feminine name of Nordic origin meaning "thunder goddess" or "thunderstorm".
Name Census estimates that about 763 living Americans carry the first name Thora. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Thora today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thora births was 1916 (72 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thora. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Thora with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
763
~ 1 in 449,219 Americans
Peak year
1916
72 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,995
Tracked since 1883
Census
Thora in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 922 people with the first name Thora, which placed it at #13,189 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#13,189
National first-name rank
People counted
922
922 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Thora
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thora is White at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Black (12.9%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Thora described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Thora at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.2% · 712
- Black or African American12.9% · 119
- Two or more races4.2% · 39
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 5
Popularity
Thora: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thora from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 519 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Thora remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Thora by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Thora during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Thoras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Utah, Minnesota, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Thora, while Texas, North Dakota, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 27 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Thora
The name Thora is of Old Norse origin, derived from the word "þora" which means "brave" or "courageous". It was a popular name among the Vikings and Norsemen who inhabited Scandinavia and parts of Northern Europe during the Viking Age, spanning from the late 8th century to the late 11th century.
The name Thora can be traced back to various ancient Norse texts and sagas, such as the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, which were written in the 13th century. These texts contain references to Norse mythology and legends, where the name Thora is mentioned in connection with various female characters known for their bravery and strength.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Thora is found in the 10th century Icelandic Book of Settlements (Landnámabók), which documents the settlement of Iceland by Norse settlers. The book mentions a woman named Thora who was among the first settlers to arrive in Iceland during the late 9th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable women named Thora, including:
1. Thora Borgarhjört (born c. 970), an Icelandic woman known for her involvement in a legal dispute recorded in the Njál's Saga, one of the most famous Icelandic sagas.
2. Thora Thorbergsdatter (c. 1020-1090), a Norwegian noblewoman and one of the most powerful women in Norway during the 11th century.
3. Thora Hallsdatter (c. 1205-1268), a Norwegian landowner and one of the richest women in Norway during the 13th century.
4. Thora Halldorsdottir (1637-1683), an Icelandic poet and one of the most famous female poets of her time.
5. Thora Thoroddsen (1856-1945), an Icelandic educator and one of the first female principals in Iceland.
The name Thora has maintained its popularity in Scandinavia and Iceland throughout the centuries, with variations such as Tora, Thura, and Tora appearing in different regions. It has also been adopted in other parts of the world, often reflecting the influence of Norse culture and mythology.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Thora
People
Thora + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thora as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Thora: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thora?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 763 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thora going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 449,219 US residents.
Is Thora a common name?
We classify Thora as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,404 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thora most popular?
The single biggest year for Thora was 1916, when 72 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thora is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Thora in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 922 people with the name Thora, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,189 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Thora in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Thora?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Thora appears almost entirely female. Of the 930 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Thora?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thora is White at 77.2%. The next largest groups are Black (12.9%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Thora most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Thora in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.2% (712 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Thora in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Thora a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thora in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Thora still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Thora in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Thora can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Thora?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.