Eleanor
| Gender | Female |
|---|---|
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Provençal/French |
| Meaning | "the other (Aenor)" |
Eleanor is a feminine given name. It is also sometimes spelt Elinor or Eleanore.
The first known bearer of the name was Eleanor of Aquitaine. She was named after her mother, Ænor de Châtellerault, and called "Aliénor", (from "Alia-Aenor"), which means "other-Aenor" in the langue d'oc (Occitan language), it became "Eléanor" in the northern Langue d'oïl and in English. Therefore the meaning of the name is sometimes given as "The Other".
The meaning of the name Aenor however is still unknown.
In English the name is sometimes connected to Elena, Ellen or Elaine (->Helen, Helene) as well. It could be connected to the Greek eleos meaning "compassion" as well.
In medieval Arabic the similar sounding name "Allahu Nuri" (Allahu Nooree) means "God is my light". The modern version is Nurullah (Noorullah) which means "light of God". The similar Hebrew name Eliora is a feminine form of Elior, meaning "my God is light".
More recently J. R. R. Tolkien created an alternative meaning for this name using his made up Elvish language Quenya. In his novel The Lord of the Rings Elanor means "sun-star" (el: star, and anor: sun), and is the name of a golden five-pointed flower that grows in the woods of Lothlórien and the given name of a golden-haired child.
There are also many variants in other languages.
First names that can be interpreted as Eleanor in English
- Eleonore German
- Ελεωνόρα (Eleōnora) Greek
- Eleonóra Hungarian, Slovak
- Eleonora Polish, Swedish
- Leonor Spanish, Portuguese
- Elinor Hebrew
- Eleonora Italian
- Alinah Malay
Notable Eleanors
- Several queens are known as Queen Eleanor, most notably Eleanor of Aquitaine
- The Infanta Leonor of Spain
- Eleonora by Edgar Allan Poe
- Eleanor Boardman, American actress
- Elinor Fair, American actress
- Eleanor Marx, writer and daughter of Karl Marx
- Eleanor Roosevelt, the activist, diplomat, and wife and First Lady of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Eleanor Powell, a tap-dance legend
- Eleanor Rigby, the fictional titular subject of a 1966 song by The Beatles; although she is fictional, a gravestone bearing the name Eleanor Rigby exists in a church in the band's birthplace of Liverpool
- Elinor Dashwood, the heroine of Jane Austen's popular novel, Sense and Sensibility
- Eleanor Murray
- Eleanor Moore
- Eleanor Butterbean a character of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
- Eleanor Friedberger, vocalist of New York indie rock band The Fiery Furnaces
- Eleanor Walmsley, is an Alaskan bear hunter extroardinare. She is also known for her close friendship to singer/dancer Britney Spears.
Other uses of Eleanor
- Franz Ferdinand have recently released a song titled 'Eleanor Put Your Boots On'.
- Jet have recently released a song titled 'Eleanor'.
- The Turtles released a song titled 'Elenore' in 1968.
- Eleanor is also the codename for the legendary Mustangs seen in both versions of the film Gone in 60 Seconds: in the original 1974 version, Eleanor is a 1973 Mach 1 coupe, while in the 2000 remake, Eleanor is a modified 1967 Shelby GT500.
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