What's In A Name?

I was recently asked by an acquaintance of mine, who asked me the origins of my name.

" Your name is quite peculiar for a Malay. Are you of mixed parentage? " he asked.

Peculiar? Never gave much thought about it, really. The name was associated with me since my birth and to this day, I have never question the meaning of my name. Of course, I have previously asked my family, in particular my parents, on the reason why they named me so. According to my mother, it was my father who chose the name. Perhaps he acquired it during one of his overseas trip, back when he was younger and was always on the road, she said. My father's response was somewhat more along the lines of practicality, really. His exact reply, and if I were to remember accurately was,

" Entah, tak ingat la. Tak salah ayah masa tu belum decide nak bubuh nama ape, pulak tu nurse tu ugut ayah kalau ayah tak bagi nama, dia akan bagi nama die sendiri." ( Can't really remember why. If I am not mistaken, I have yet to choose a name for you at that time and the nurse had threatened to name you herself if I fail to do so).

Frankly, I was hoping for a more 'romantic' version. Being a romantic that I am(I totally blame it on Mills & Boons for this), I thought perhaps, just like the movie 'Becoming Jane', the name was picked by father because it reminded him of the girl he met but wasn't able to pursue a relationship with, due to the many obstacles that he faced. A lost love - which was doomed from the beginning by a cruel twist of fate. My late grandmother had offered a more 'interesting' version to it. She claimed that back then, in the roaring 60's, my father was a huge fan of both the movie, Lawrence of Arabia and that of the Italian actress, Sofia Loren and that is how he came up with my name. Seriously and truly, till this day I still cannot find the connection between those two given facts and of course the rationality which links them together, but what the heck, this 'version' DEFINITELY sounds a whooolllleeeee lot nicer then the explanation that was given to me by my father :).

So I decided to conduct my own research, through the limited resources that I have. After 'googling' it over the net, this is a basic summary of my findings -facts on the origins and meaning of my name :


1. A female's name;

2. Definitely not associated with the Malays;

3. Origins of name most probably is from Ireland. Used mostly by the English and Irish;

4. Closest meaning I could fine is "Norene" and according to babynamer.com, means :

Meaning: Its source is Eleonora, an Italian name meaning "Compassion"

Narrative: It developed as a short form of the names Eleonora, Honora and Leonora.

Though Nora is not Gaelic in origin, it has come to be especially associated with Ireland, and in Scotland is often used as a feminine form of Norman.

(Wicked, eh?!!) ;)

5. Name was most popular during the early 1900's;

6. ...which means most of the people with the same name are either old or already dead !!! (found a lot of obituaries for the same name....huhuhuhuhu).


So, I ask ye again, what's in a name? ;)