Editor’s note: This post was originally published on October 9, 2008. It was substantially revised and re-published on September 23, 2013.
It’s a garden of girls out there. Lily ranks in the Top 20, with Jasmine and Violet not far behind. Toss in variant spellings and elaborations, plus other botanical possibilities like Hazel and Ivy, Poppy and Willow, and it’s easy to wonder if you’re at the playground or the greenhouse.
With flowers names in full bloom, why is this pan-botanical so neglected? Our Baby Name of the Day is Flora.
Flora was a nineteenth century favorite, ranking in the US Top 100 in the 1880s and 1890s. Despite our affection for vintage gems, she hasn’t made much of a comeback in recent years. 124 girls received the name in 2012. That’s up a smidge from the 1980s and 90s, but compared to the similar-sounding, equally antique Cora and Nora, Flora is languishing.
She’s the goddess of flowers in Roman mythology – a relatively minor figure associated with spring.
Her heyday was the Renaissance, when artists like Titian, Rembrandt, and Boticelli embraced the goddess and depicted her in their works.
It was Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus who first used flora to describe plant life. Out of the pantheon and portrait, into the realm of science. Linnaeus’ master work was called Flora Suecica, and was published in the eighteenth century.
Flora ultimately comes from the Latin flos – flower.
As a given name, Flora has a long history of use:
- In the ninth century, one of the martyrs of Cordoba answered to the name.
- A fourteenth century French saint was called Flora. A fascinating bit of trivia: she’s the patron saint of victims of betrayal.
- In the 1700s, Flora McDonald helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape capture. A statue commemorating her bravery stands in Inverness, Scotland today.
- Early French feminist thinker Flora Tristan was well known in the socialist movement of the 1830s and 1840s.
- English painter Flora Twort was active in the early 20th century.
- Flora Robson was a celebrated English actress, best known for her work in the theater, but with many a film credit over five decades. (If you’ve seen the original Clash of the Titans, then you’ve seen her in one of her final roles – she’s one of the three witches!)
She’s also used in Poland, Sweden, and Belgium. Fiction gives us Floras in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty and Henry James’ spooky The Turn of the Screw.
The similar sounding – but etymologically unrelated – Florence is having a revival in the UK. In the 1880s and 90s, Florence was a Top Ten pick in the US, but today she’s the sassy housekeeper on The Jeffersons – and probably not quite ready for revival. The again, my first thought isn’t the sitcom. It’s Florence and the Machine – a whole other, far cooler vibe.
Harry Potter heroine Fleur brought the French version of the name to many parents’ attention. I’d love to hear Fleur, and yet I wonder if it would be a pronunciation headache.
Flora carries no such baggage. She’s easily spelled and pronounced. And yet she’s incredibly rare. The odds of your child sharing her name are minimal – just 124 girls received the name in 2012. (There were also 92 baby Florences and eleven Fleurs – you’re much more likely to meet a Lily!)
Overall, I think Flora deserves a second look. Her -ora sound is on the rise, and a two-syllable, ends-with-a girls’ name is almost always a winning choice.
I have been looking up the origins of my last name and I came upon this….. .
I’m liking Flora more and mora!! I have a baby girl on the way after two older brothers so I’m in the market for a feminine name. I like names that are uncommon, but vaguely familiar, and this fits the bill. Sweet baby Flora, I can just see her now 🙂
I love, love, love Flora. I think it’s sweet and simple and vintage and perfect. I live in the US so I don’t have the margarine association. I’d use it, definitely!
I like but don’t love Flora. Maybe it’s the association with florid?
I think it’s beautiful, and sweetly vintage, but the margarine connection is off-putting. It’s probably the most well-known non butter spread in the UK so it would be liable to ‘spread’ related jokes, which could get nasty. It is still ranked about #400 over here though so a fair few uses.
I can see that. So … no to Flora in the UK, but elsewhere in the English-speaking world, I think she works. Wait … until they have the margarine in Canada and Australia?
They do, in Australia, but I’m not sure I care.
I wouldn’t recommend using Fairy or Nuttelex though. Nuttelex would have a hard time in primary school.
I like Flora a lot. I don’t like Cora or Dora at all.
I like a lot of specific plant names though and they might be weird together. Like you tried to find more flower names but then were like “eff it, I’ll just name her Flora.”
I like the more-obscure Greek mythical names the best. It limits the number of wonderfully eccentric graphic myths about them. I can only deal with so much mythical violence and incest before it starts to get weird. And the more obscure the reference the fewer people will be all HAW HAW A THEME I GEDDIT if you do it twice.
Flora is such a gorgeous name, at first I felt it was slightly frilly and silly but now I’ve come to love it.
It’s kind of pretty but I don’t think I’d use it. Reminds me of the little girl in the movie The Piano, and one of the triplet baby elephants of King Babar and Queen Celeste… anyone read the Babar books? Housekeeper on the Brady Bunch was Alice, by the way.
I should love Flora. I’m crazy about flower names (Lily, Violet, and Susanna are my top choices, though Lily’s far too common now). I love the two-syllable ends-in-A names (Clara, Sonia, and Elsa are the current favorites). And, to top it all off, my husband’s favorite grandmother is named Floris.
There’s something about it, though, that I just don’t love. Maybe it sounds too hippie-fairy to me. Or maybe the “floor” sound isn’t very pleasing to my ears. Hmmm…I’ll have to think about this one.
Flora isn’t all that uncommon down here. I know at least four Flora’s ranging in age from three to early forties, all of Hispanic descent. I much prefer Violet, Ivy, and especially Hazel to Flora, but using her as a nickname for Florence is appealing.
Flora is a kickass flower power name and so much more refreshing than the likes of Daisy, Poppy and Lily that I’m so tired of hearing. Shes a little lightweight for me though and has a distictly nicknamey feel, thus like Lola – I’d prefer to use her as a nickname for Florence.
Florence was not on The Brady Bunch. She was the bad natured housekeeper on The Jeffersons. Florence Henderson played the good natured mom, Carol on The Brady Bunch. Sorry, had to clear that up.
I thoroughly dislike Flora. It gives me nasty little creepy crawlies under my skin. I’d prefer Daisy any day.
I thoroughly adore Flora. If I didn’t think she’d be horribly lightweight next to sister Josephine, I’d use her in full. As is, I’ve got her on my lists as a nickname for Florence (which was the name of yet another of my Aunts). I think Flora’s light, sweet and far more versatile a “flower” name than Lily, Violet, etc.
I am afraid of Disney. Flora, after the re-release of my favorite Disney Princess flick (Yep, She’s got a Mother [How many other Disney Princesses do? Think about it.], a real name [stinky Aurora but still…] and her Prince has a name too [Phillip, not Charming! :D]. Flora may get “Where’s Fauna & Merryweather”? a fair bit, which is reason #2 I have her as a nickname. Disney ruins a lot of things for me, sadly. Not that I think that bit of teasing possibly could ruin it completley, it’s more “I thought about it, someone else might too” sort of thought.
But Flora, *sigh* I just ADORE Flora! Light, sweet and oh so feminine. Delicate too, but don’t mess with her, she bites! 😀