Name profile

Coraline

feminine

91First-name usabilityHighly workable

Evidence coverageLimited

This reflects the first name on its own. The full-name report scores the complete combination separately.

As the coral-derived French name: 'coral' (from Greek korallion). As Gaiman's coinage: no independent lexical meaning was intended; he has said he liked that the word 'coral' embedded in it is 'both beautiful and hard and hidden.'

Why it works

English speakers will almost certainly pronounce it correctly on the first try

What to know

pronunciation varies somewhat by language — see "How it travels" for the specifics

Popularity

Uncommon — #683 in the latest U.S. ranking.

Meaning and origin

Coraline means As the coral-derived French name: 'coral' (from Greek korallion). As Gaiman's coinage: no independent lexical meaning was intended; he has said he liked that the word 'coral' embedded in it is 'both beautiful and hard and hidden.'.

Functions today primarily as a modern literary/film-associated given name in English-speaking usage, while retaining a much smaller and separate historical footprint as a rare French name tied to the coral root and the 1849 opera.

VerifiedDirectly documented by an independent source, with no competing account on file.

How it travels

English and Turkish are shown by default; German is included when it adds a meaningfully different reading.

EnglishKOR-uh-line — US Englishresearched pronunciation

TurkishEnglish reading conventions often soften or drop a trailing "-e"; Turkish is pronounced letter-by-letter, so Turkish speakers are likely to voice that final syllable clearly where English speakers may not.deterministic phonetic analysis

GermanEnglish reading conventions often soften or drop a trailing "-e"; German is pronounced letter-by-letter, so German speakers are likely to voice that final syllable clearly where English speakers may not.deterministic phonetic analysis

Spelling stability: high — based on letter-pattern analysis, not a documented linguistic fact.

Also documented

US English: /ˈkɔɹ.ə.laɪn/

French: /kɔ.ʁa.lin/

Popularity without panic

Uncommon — #683 in the latest U.S. ranking.

Still uncommon, but no longer unfamiliar.

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Real-world considerations

Spelling note: Caroline.

Explore alternatives

Coral

Documented as a related name or variant form.

Coralie

Documented as a related name or variant form.

Caroline

Documented as a related name or variant form.