Noor

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 22 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Noor is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Malay given name510K records spelled Noor21 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Singapore

  Languages: Malay, Indonesian

  Also written 'Noor, Noor', Ñoor, Ñooř, Ñõõr

• English given name246K records spelled Noor72 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Malaysia, Netherlands, United States, India

  Languages: English, Dutch, Western Frisian

  Also written Nôôr, Nöör, Nõõr, Ñôôr, Ñoor

• Malay given name175K records spelled Noor182 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia

  Languages: Malay, Bangla, Indonesian

  Also written Nor, Nur, Nar, নুর, Nuru

• Spanish given name17K records spelled Noor42 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, Malaysia, United States, Argentina

  Also written Ñòór, Nöör, Noör, Ñöõr, Ñooŕ

74 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Noor is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Arabic, light, illumination; Allah's epithet

  as a name·A Dictionary of Muslim Names

• In Arabic, light, illumination

  as a name·A Dictionary of Muslim Names

• In French, Arabic nūr « light ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In English, Arabic: ‘light’

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In Arabic, light

  as a name·African Muslim Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

IN naampy — India given names from state electoral rolls (in-rolls) — 107 years between 1899–2017. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Noor Inayat Khanb. 1914GBWW2 SOE British agent (1914–1944)
• Noor Hassanalib. 1918TTformer President of Trinidad and Tobago (1918-2006)
• Noor Jehanb. 1926PKPakistani singer and actress (1920–2000)
• Noor Shakerb. 1950SYSyrian-Danish computer scientist and entrepreneur
• Queen Noor of Jordanb. 1951USQueen and Queen Dowager of Jordan; philanthropist and activist
• Noor Hisham Abdullahb. 1963MYMalaysian civil servant and endocrine surgeon
• Noor Deen Mi Guangjiangb. 1963CNexpert in Islamic calligraphy
• Noor Pahlavib. 1992USmember of Pahlavi dynasty
• Noor Vidtsb. 1996BEBelgian athletics competitor
• Noor Al-Rawabdehb. 1997JOJordanian footballer

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 862 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Noor?

We estimate roughly 18 thousand people bear Noor (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Noor have the most bearers?

Noor is most frequently recorded in India, where it is most often spelled noor.

How common is Noor compared with other names?

In India, Noor is the 639th most common given name of 4,777,337 given names recorded there.

Is Noor a male or female name?

Noor is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

What does the name Noor mean?

Recorded meaning: from a personal name based on Arabic nur ‘light’, ‘illumination’.