Norman was platted August 8, 1887 on land the Union Pacific Railroad donated to brothers Carl and John Norman; the post office rejected the originally proposed name "Fleming" (honoring a railroad official), and at a settler's request it was renamed Norman for the landowning brothers. It grew quickly with grain elevators, stores, a bank, a hotel, and doctors, and residents successfully petitioned for village incorporation in 1905.

Norman remains an incorporated village today, part of the Kearney Micropolitan Statistical Area, with a 2020 census population of just 36 — genuinely tiny but still a real, functioning municipality with a post office and a handful of small businesses. It has no distinct ZIP of its own; mail runs through Minden's 68959. K-6 students attend locally, while older students are bused to Minden.