Image by seriykotik1970 via Flickr
There’s Cordelia and Cornelia, Coralie and Coraline. What about just Cora?
Thanks to Photoquilty for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
Short names often inspire elaborations. Claire becomes Clarissa and Clarice and even Clarinda. It is easy to imagine Cora leading to Cordelia and company.
But that’s not so. While many of those names have ancient roots, Cora is, in some ways, a fairly recent addition to naming options. Her roots stretch back into Greek myth, but she wasn’t used as a given name until James Fenimore Cooper chose the name for his ill-fated Cora Munro in The Last of the Mohicans.
The novel was published in 1826, but set seventy-five years earlier. The name made for a good choice for Colonel Munro’s older, dark-haired daughter. While it isn’t widely known, Cora is of mixed-race descent. The Mohican warrior, Uncas, falls in love with her. It’s an adventure tale with a romantic plot, but neither Cora nor Uncas survive.
Cooper’s book was a success, and Cora caught on as a given name.
It wasn’t new, exactly. Cooper might have been inspired by the Greek Kore, another name for the goddess Persephone. Persephone’s tale of living in two worlds was appropriate for Cora Munro. But Kore was more of a title than a name. Kore literally means maiden.
Corinna was the given name derived from kore. Corinna was worn by an ancient Greek poet, and the fictional love interest of Ovid in his Amores. Truly ancient name, ancient poet, used by Ovid for a character. In the 1600s, poet Robert Herrick penned Corinna going a-Maying.
Cora fits right in with fellow antiques like Emma and Clara, but she’s relatively undiscovered. While she’s never left the US Top 1000, she ranked #15 in 1880, and #778 in 1980.
Cora started climbing in 1992, reaching #303 in 2009.
She could bring a whole list of Cor- names with her, though Corinne is quite out of favor, and most of the possibilities are still heard more often on baby name discussion boards than on real life playgrounds. Parents might like the idea that Cora is close to the French coeur – heart – from the Latin cor. There’s no real relationship, but plenty of names benefit from what they seem to mean.
Any name once so popular may very well climb the charts again. For many parents, Cora will hit exactly the right balance – unusual, but familiar, and brief, but complete. If Cordelia seems too elaborate, Caroline too popular, and Cori too fleeting, Cora could be for you.
I adore Cora. Good friends of ours just used it or I would be tempted to add it to my list. This might sound strange, but I love the way it feels in my mouth when I say it. This is one of those rare names that I like even more in real life than I do on paper. Gorgeous!
Love it. But I have a (girl) cousin named Corey, so Cora is too close to make it onto my list. A woman I know has a daughter name Kora. Not nearly as pretty, IMO.
I love Cora too. I think you’re right about people liking the Cor sound. I know it was appealing to us – our list finally came down to Cordelia and Corinne when we named our daughter 6 weeks ago! Corinne won
I think Cora is a great choice – good nicknames and easy to say, short and sweet.
Congratulations on your new baby, Corinne is such a lovely name.
Congratulations, Carey! Welcome to the world, Corinne.
I love Cordelia, but my family hates it so I’ve moved on to Cora and I think I love it more.
I love Cora, but my baby sister is Kara, so I think its too close for comfort for me. I do love Cordelia though!
I love Cora, too, because of its sound, its meaning, and its literary ties. For a while, I was wondering if I wanted to replace Clara on our list with Cora, but Clara won out since it’s a family name.
Oops. I’m Emmy Jo, not Emma Jo.
I was wondering about the name change!
Well, I used to adore Cora, thanks to a fabulously creative Kore I knew in H.S. . Sadly, Josie had a Cora in her kindergarten class last year. (Thankfully, not this year!) While Cora was lovely to look at, she had the mouth of a sailor and hence ruined Cora for me.
I do utterly adore Coralie, however. Related but not simple Cora. I may still use Coralie in the middle if I ever have a fourth kid (second girl), as in Lettice Coralie Jane. But never Cora. That kid gave Josie fits all last year and gave me nightmares!
The French “cor” is also used in music, meaning “horn”… even in English scores you can often find the “cor anglais” (which is kind of funny given that it’s the English horn). Cora appeals to me as a sneaky reference to my musicianship, but husband has already vetoed any C/K names for future kiddies due to overuse in his family. That and we named the dog Keira (after Keira Knightley, of course).
I like Cora, but like Corinne and Cordelia more. I would use Cora as nickname for either of those in a heartbeat. I really like Cora, it’s short and sweet, but not nickname-y or silly souding. You can see a Cora as a cute little girl, a sassy teen, and a grown woman. It will age well.
I forgot, I totally love Corinna, too!
I went to HS with a Cora (actually, Cora Lee). She was a good friend and nice person.
I love Cora! Have you done Melina for a NOTD? I have a friend from HS named for the Greek actress, and just met a 2 year old with the name. Her mom told me she’s one of 3 at her preschool!
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