She was born as Rita Sahatçiu (pronounced ; surname derived from the Turkish word, saatçi, which means "watchmaker"), but her parents later added Ora (which means "time" in Albanian) to the family surname so it could be easily pronounced.
Dia dilahirkan dengan nama Rita Sahatçiu (nama keluarga dari kata Turki, saatçi, yang berarti "pembuat jam"), tetapi kemudian orang tuanya menambahkan Ora (yang berarti "waktu" dalam Bahasa Albania) sebagai nama keluarga sehingga bisa dengan mudah diucapkan.