Loralei is a phonetic spelling of Lorelei, the name of the steep rock on the Rhine and of the siren who, in Heinrich Heine's poem, lures boatmen to their doom with her song. The place name is usually explained as "murmuring rock", from the Rhenish lureln, to murmur, and ley, rock. The spelling caught on in the United States during the run of Gilmore Girls, whose mother and daughter were both named Lorelai; Loralei peaked at number 1849 in 2011 and ranks number 2673 in 2025 with 65 girls.