Given name & surname
Lorna
“crowned with laurel; from the laurel tree”
Lorna is a literary creation with a likely Scottish place-name connection.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Lorna is a variant of Lora. In Latin use, Lora carries the interpretation “crowned with laurel; from the laurel tree.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Scottish.
The story
R. D. Blackmore created Lorna for the heroine of Lorna Doone, published in 1869. He appears to have drawn on Lorn or Lorne, a territory in Argyll, giving a novel set on Exmoor a name with a Scottish connection.
Lorna through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 28,557
- 22 boys · 28,535 girls
- Most popular year
- 1957
- 758 babies
- 2025
- 56
- #2,980 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +15%
- Rising
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 56 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 2,980 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 15.5% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 758 in 1957. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 26,130 as a first name in 2020; a sample rank of No. 62,296 among surnames in 1990.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Lorna
- Lorna WingBritish autism researcher (1928–2014)
- Loren LegardaPresident pro tempore of the Senate of the Philippines since 2022born 1960
- Lorna LuftAmerican television, stage and film actress and singerborn 1952
- Lorna GrayAmerican actress (1917-2017)
- Lorna RaverAmerican actress1943–2025
- Lorna SimpsonAmerican photographer (born 1960)
- Lorna MaitlandAmerican actressborn 1943
- Lorna PattersonAmerican actressborn 1956
- Lorna Fitzgeraldcharacter actressborn 1996
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Lorna, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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