Mora (surname)

Mora is a surname with old Roman (Latin) origins that originated in Spain and Portugal, but Mora was first found in Castile, one of medieval Spain's most important Christian kingdoms.[1]

Mora translates to "blackberry", which is an edible fruit. In ancient times, this was an industrial surname for someone who grew and farmed these berries.

Additionally, surname "mora" derives from the habitual people who once "lived at one of the many places on the Iberian Peninsula [during the 16th century] called 'Mora'".[2] Typically after people abandoned their original homes and relocated to a new place, they were granted habitational surnames explaining why there are many different surnames.

Mora had the highest family population In Missouri during the 1840s.[3] After that In the United States the number of people carrying the Mora last name grew 10,011 percent between 1880.[4]

Mora is the 1,039th most frequent surname in the U. S., with an approximate 29,844 people with the name. Mora is also the 659th most frequent surname in France, with an estimated 7,193 people bearing the name.[1]

This last name is most commonly used in Mexico, where it is carried by 183,731 people, or 1 in 676. ‘Mora’ is most numerous in: México, where 13%  reside in Jalisco, 13% reside in Michoacán. Overall, "Mora" Barring Mexico surnames exist in 156 countries. It also occurs in Colombia, where 15 percent reside and Costa Rica.[1]

Notable people with the surname include:

• Barry Mora (1940/41–2021), New Zealand operatic baritone
• Domingo Mora (d. 1911), Spanish born American sculptor and father of F. Luis Mora and Jo Mora
• F. Luis Mora (1874–1940), Hispanic American artist and illustrator
• Ferenc Móra (1879–1934), Hungarian writer
• Hermógenes L. Mora (born 1979), Nicaraguan poet
• Jo Mora (1876–1947), American artist
• José Mora (1642–1724), Spanish sculptor
• José Ferrater Mora (1912–1991), Catalan philosopher, essayist and writer
• Lola Mora (1866–1936), Argentine sculptor
• Manuel Argüello Mora (1834–1902), Costa Rican writer
• Mirka Mora (1928–2018), French-born Australian visual artist
• Pat Mora (born 1942), American poet and writer
• Philippe Mora (born 1949), French-born Australian film director
• Rick Mora (born 1975), Native American actor
• Tiriel Mora (born 1958), Australian television and film actor
• Víctor Mora (comics) (1931–2016), pseudonym of Eugenio Roca, Spanish writer of comic books

• Evelyn Mora (born 1992), Finnish entrepreneur
• Georges Mora (1913–1992), German-born Australian entrepreneur, art dealer, patron, connoisseur and restaurateur

• Alberto J. Mora (born 1951), General Counsel of the United States Navy (2001–2006)
• Alejandra Mora Mora (born 1970), Costa Rican lawyer, professor, and politician
• Joaquín Mora Fernández (1786–1862), provisional head of state of Costa Rica in 1837
• José María Luis Mora (1794–1850), Mexican priest, lawyer, historian, politician, and progressive (liberal) ideologue
• Juan Mora Fernández (1784–1854), Costa Rica's first elected head of state, brother of Joaquín Mora Fernández
• Juan Rafael Mora Porras (1814–1860), President of Costa Rica (1849–1859)
• Miguel Mora Porras (1816–1887), President of Costa Rica in 1849
• Patricia Mora Castellanos (born 1951), Costa Rican academic and politician

• Jim Mora (broadcaster), New Zealand television and radio presenter
• Marie T. Mora, American economist

• De la Mora (disambiguation)