Noricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom (perhaps better described as a federation of, by tradition, twelve tribes) stretching over the area of today's Austria and a part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire. It was bounded on the north by the Danube, on the west by Raetia and Vindelicia, on the east and southeast by Pannonia, on the south by Region 10, Venetia et Histria, of Roman Italy.

Noricum roughly corresponded to the greater part of modern Styria and Carinthia, Austria west of Vienna, Salzburg, a part of Bavaria, and a part of Slovenia. It may be thus seen as the beginning of Austrian history, and in 1919 there was the concrete idea aired by Heinrich Lammasch, who had been Imperial Austria's last prime minister, to give the young republic the name of "Norische Republik" or "Noric Republic", because the ancient borders were similar to those of the new state which, at that time, did not wish to be considered the heir of the Habsburg monarchy but an independent, neutral and peaceful state.