Name meaning and origin

Laura

Italian / Latin: Origin uncertain. Most likely a pet form of Laurentia, feminine of Laurentius ("of Laurentum").

Pronounced LOR-uh

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Where the name comes from

  • Italian / Latin
    Origin uncertain. Most likely a pet form of Laurentia, feminine of Laurentius ("of Laurentum").
    Laurentia / Laurentius (Laurence); Laurentum, a town in Latium whose name etymonline glosses as "town of bay trees", from laurus "laurel"
    DMNES (2023): "etymology of this name is obscure; it is likely related to" Laurence. etymonline: "probably originally a pet form of Laurentia, fem. of Laurentius". Popular meaning: "laurel" or "laurel tree". Only Wiktionary (no cited source) derives Laura directly from laurus. In the scholarly accounts, laurel connects only indirectly, through Laurentum.

Laura across traditions

  • Italian literature. Laura is the beloved of Petrarch's Canzoniere. He was said to have first seen her in Avignon on April 6, 1327, and she died on April 6, 1348. She is traditionally identified as Laura de Noves, although some critics doubt she existed (Britannica). DMNES: "The name occurs in 14th C poetry as the name of the love of Petrarch".
  • Medieval Europe. DMNES records the name from 1301 (France, Lorete) and 1340xc1450 (England, Lorra) to 1527, in England, France, Italy and Spain.
  • Latin American Catholic. Mother Laura Montoya was canonized in 2013 as Colombia's first saint (Al Jazeera, 12 May 2013: "set to become Colombia's first ever saint").
  • United States (SSA). 614,819 births in the SSA decade top-200 tables, 1950s–2010s. Peak decade: the 1960s, at #16 for girls (174,185 births). Top 100 from the 1950s through the 1990s. Sources: ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/names1950s.html through names2010s.html.

Who carried it

  • Laura (Petrarch's beloved; traditionally Laura de Noves) (died 1348): Subject of Petrarch's Canzoniere. He first saw her on April 6, 1327 (Britannica).
  • Mother Laura Montoya (canonized 2013): Colombia's first saint (Al Jazeera).

Forms in other languages

Laure, Lora

Laura in letter-number systems

Hebrew, Greek and other traditions gave every letter a number, and read meaning into the totals. These are the counts, computed; the readings are inside the Innerverse.

238
Hebrew Standard
4
Hebrew Ordinal
53
English Simple
318
English Sumerian
82
English Reverse
532
Greek Isopsephy
4
Chaldean
8
Pythagorean

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