UK name, mostly girls
Noor
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "light" or "radiance".
For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2024. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.
Noor is mostly registered for girls in the UK records. People looking for Noor popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #188, with 258 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 2024, with 258 births.
This profile covers 3,630 England and Wales registrations across 29 recorded years from 1996 to 2024. The figures come from ONS England and Wales, NRS Scotland and NISRA Northern Ireland, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.
Noor is at its recorded peak in the England and Wales series.
We estimate that about 3,800 living people in the UK are called Noor. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2025 or 2026.
Key insights
- • Noor ranked #188 for girls in England and Wales in 2024, with 258 registrations.
- • The name peaked in 2024, when 258 girls were registered as Noor.
- • Noor ranks best in Scotland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #196 in 2024.
- • About 3,800 living people in the UK are estimated to have Noor as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.
- • Across the England and Wales records shown here, 89.9% of Noor registrations are for girls.
Latest rank (E&W)
#188
2024
Births in 2024
258
Latest year
Peak year
2024
258 births
Estimated living
3,800
2026
Gender
Boy and girl registrations for Noor
In England and Wales birth records, Noor has been registered for both boys and girls. Across the years shown here, 10.1% of registrations are for boys and 89.9% are for girls.
These figures use the sex categories in the published baby-name files. They are useful for spotting how the name is used at registration, but they are not a live measure of gender identity or everyone living with the name today.
Noor registered for boys
- Ranked #2,088 in 2024
- 11 boys registered in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (26 births)
Noor registered for girls
- Ranked #188 in 2024
- 258 girls registered in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (258 births)
Meaning
What does Noor mean?
The name Noor is of Arabic origin, derived from the word "nur" which means "light" or "radiance" in Arabic. It is a popular name across the Islamic world and has been in use for centuries.
The name Noor is mentioned in the Quran, the holy book of Islam, which refers to Allah as the "Light of the Heavens and the Earth" (Nur al-Samawat wal-Ard). This association with divine light has contributed to the name's popularity among Muslims.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Noor dates back to the 7th century CE, when Noor Jehan, the wife of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, ruled as the empress of the Mughal Empire from 1611 to 1627. She was a talented poet and a patron of the arts, and her name literally means "Light of the World."
Another notable figure with the name Noor was Noor Inayat Khan, a British spy of Indian descent who served in the Special Operations Executive during World War II. Born in 1914, she was the first female radio operator to be sent into Nazi-occupied France and was executed by the Gestapo in 1944.
In the world of literature, Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan, also known as Noor Inayat Khan, was a famous writer and poet from the Indian subcontinent. She was born in 1914 and was the daughter of the famous Sufi teacher Inayat Khan.
In the realm of sports, Noor Hasan was a Pakistani cricketer who played for the national team in the 1950s and 1960s. He was born in 1928 and is remembered for his impressive batting skills and his contribution to Pakistan's cricket team in its early years.
Another notable figure with the name Noor was Noor Jehan, a legendary Pakistani singer and actress who was born in 1926. She was widely regarded as the "Malika-e-Tarannum" (Queen of Melody) and was a cultural icon in both Pakistan and India.
Sourced from namecensus.com.
Popularity
Noor over time
The chart below compares boys and girls registered as Noor in England and Wales, from 1996 to 2024. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.
For Noor, the clearest high point is 2024. The latest England and Wales figure is 258 births in 2024, compared with 258 at the peak.
Babies born per year
Decades
Noor by decade
Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Noor was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.
| Decade | Average rank | Total births | Years covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | #241 | 1,000 | 5 |
| 2010s | #310 | 1,572 | 10 |
| 2000s | #424 | 921 | 10 |
| 1990s | #716 | 137 | 4 |
Geography
Where Noor is most common
The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Noor. They are useful for spotting where the name is showing up in real numbers, while the rank beside each bar shows how strongly it performs inside that region.
Noor ranks best in Scotland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #196 in 2024.
Across the UK
Noor in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland (NRS)
#196 in 2024
23 years of NRS records, 186 total registered
Northern Ireland (NISRA)
#391 in 2023
1 years of NISRA records, 3 total registered
Related
Names similar to Noor
- Niamh 20,347
- Nicole 19,687
- Natasha 15,578
- Nancy 12,607
- Naomi 12,199
- Natalie 10,885
- Nevaeh 7,869
- Nina 7,285
- Neve 7,180
- Natalia 7,099
- Nadia 6,032
- Nicola 4,927
FAQ
Noor: questions and answers
How popular is the name Noor in the UK right now?
In 2024, Noor was ranked #188 for girls in England and Wales, with 258 births registered.
When was Noor most popular?
The peak year on record was 2024, with 258 babies registered as Noor in England and Wales.
What is the meaning and origin of Noor?
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "light" or "radiance".
How many people are called Noor in the UK?
A total of 3,630 babies have been registered as Noor across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 186 more in Scotland and 3 in Northern Ireland.
Where is Noor most common?
In the latest published local rankings, Noor ranks best in Scotland, where it placed #196 in 2024. The regional bars on this page use birth counts, so they also reflect the size of each region.
Which records is this page based on?
The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.