Flora is a feminine given name of Latin origin meaning flower, ultimately derived from the Latin word flos, which had the genitive florus. Flora was a fertility goddess of flowers and springtime in Ancient Rome. Feminine variants include Florrie or its Scottish Gaelic equivalent Flòraidh. Flora was also used as an English translation for the etymologically unrelated Scottish Gaelic Fionnaghal, a variant of the Irish Gaelic name Fionnuala. Other feminine variants include the Dutch Floor and Floortje, the English and French Florence, the French Fleur, Flore, and Florette, the Hungarian Flóra, the Italian Fiore and Fiorenza, the Occitan Flòra, the Sami Florá, the Portuguese and Spanish Flor and Florinda, the Spanish Florencia, and the Portuguese Florência, and the Welsh Fflur. Usage The name came into regular use by the 1700s in countries across Europe and elsewhere. The name was among the one hundred most popular names for girls in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s and remained among the top one thousand names used for girls through 1972 and then declined. It has again risen in use in recent years and has been among the one thousand most used names for American girls since 2019. It is also in regular use in the United Kingdom, France, and Hungary. Notable people Flora A. Brewster (1852-1919), American physician, surgeon Flora Bridges (1859–1912), American college professor Flora Brovina (born 1949), Kosovar poet and pediatrician Flora Carabella (1926–1999), Italian actress Flora Chan (born 1970), Hong Kong actress Flora Coquerel (born 1994), French model Flora D. Darpino (born 1961), American judge advocate general Flora Eldershaw (1897–1956), Australian writer Flora Kaai Hayes (1893–1968), Hawaiian politician Flora Karimova (born 1941), Azerbaijani singer Flora Haines Loughead (1855–1943), American writer, farmer, miner Flora E. Lowry (1879–1933), American anthologist Flora MacDonald (1722–1790), Scottish Jacobite Flora MacDonald (1926–2015), Canadian politician Flora Mace (born 1949), American glass artist Flora Martínez (born 1977), Colombian actress Flora Martirosian (1957–2012), Armenian singer Flora Montgomery (born 1974), British actress Flora Murray (1869–1923), British doctor and suffragette Flora Nwapa (1931–1993), Nigerian author Flora Purim (born 1942), Brazilian singer Flora Redoumi (born 1976), Greek hurdler Flora Robson (1902–1984), British actress Flora Madeline Shaw (1864–1927), Canadian nurse and nursing teacher Flora Annie Steel (1847–1929), British writer Flora Stevenson (1839–1905), British educational reformer Flora E. Strout (1867-1962), American teacher, social reformer Flora Thompson (1876–1947), British writer Flora Tristan (1803–1844), French writer and feminist Flora Twort (1893–1985),