Laura

• Lora (rare)

From Late Latin saint's name Laura, from the feminine form of laurus (“laurel tree”). A post-classical name made famous by Petrarch's sonnets to Laura in the fourteenth century.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔɹə/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔːɹə/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːɹə
• Homophone: Lara (with cot-caught and father-bother mergers)

Laura

1. A female given name from Latin.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

     Now is he for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in; Laura to his lady was but a kitchen-wench; marry, she had a better love to be-rime her;

   • 1960 Peter S. Beagle: A Fine And Private Place. Random House Publishing, 1982:The Fantasy Worlds of Peter Beagle. →ISBN page 258:

     Laura was saying something. A mellifluous name, he thought. I wish she were far away, so I could call her.

   • 2019 February 7, Elly Griffiths, The Stone Circle: The Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries 11, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

     'Mine's Laura'./ 'A beautiful name.'/ Laura has never liked her name. It's too old-fashioned and has, to her mind, a slightly whiny sound, like the twang of a country and western guitar. In fact she was given the name because Michelle liked the song 'Tell Laura I Love Her'.

• Also used as a feminine equivalent of Laurence.

• Laurel, Lauren, Lauretta, Laurie, Lol, Loretta, Lori, Lorraine

• aural

Borrowed from Latin Laura.

• IPA^(key): [ˈlau̯ra]
• Hyphenation: Lau‧ra

Laura f

1. a female given name

From Latin Laura.

Laura

1. a female given name

• Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 21 161 females with the given name Laura have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 2000s. Accessed on 19 June 2011.

Borrowed from Late Latin Laura.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑu̯.raː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Lau‧ra

Laura f

1. a female given name

From Latin Laura.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑu̯rɑ/, [ˈlɑu̯rɑ]

Laura

1. a female given name

Laura

1. a female given name

Matronymics

• son of Laura: Lauruson
• daughter of Laura: Laurudóttir

From Latin Laura.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑu̯rɑ/, [ˈlɑ̝u̯rɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ɑurɑ
• Syllabification^(key): Lau‧ra

Laura

1. a female given name
   • 1931, Frans Emil Sillanpää, “Nuorena nukkunut”, in Silja ja Ihmiset suviyössä, Suuri Suomalainen Kirjakerho, published 1988, →ISBN, page 63:

     Ja sen jälkeen taas parin vuoden kuluttua tyttö, jonka nimeksi pantiin Laura, sekin Salmeluksen vanhoja perintönimiä.

     And only a couple of years after that a girl, who was given the name Laura, yet another old name inherited from the Salmelus family.

   • 1991, Anna-Leena Härkönen, Akvaariorakkautta, Otava, published 2008, →ISBN, s.183:

     —Tässä on meidän Laura ja tuo pienempi on Suvi, Marita sano.
     Mä ajattelin tylsänä että kiva ku joku sinänsä epäsovinnainen ihminen oli antanu lapsilleen ihan normaalit nimet eikä mitään muotiväännöksiä niin ku monet. Kaikki sampot ja santerit ja tonterit säälittää mua suunnattomasti.

     —This here is our Laura and the smaller one is Suvi, Marita said.
     I thought while bored that nice that someone so nonconformist had given her children such normal names and nothing fashionable like many others. All the sampos and santeris and tonteris really make me feel pity.

   • 2013, Kari Hotakainen, Luonnon laki, Siltala, →ISBN, pages 17–18:

     Sen ojensi hänelle sairaanhoitaja, jonka vasemman rinnan yläpuolella oli nimikyltti: Laura. Nimi toi Rautalan mieleen vanhojen elokuvien palvelijan, joka alistuneesti nyökkäillen sipsuttelee isossa ruokasalissa tarkistamassa, että kaikki on varmasti valmiina mahakkaan tilanomistajan ja hänen rouvansa ruokailuhetkeä varten. Kävi mielessä myös mainoksen Elovena-tyttö, vaikka Lauran hiuksen olivat pikimustat ja hänellä oli korvissaan mustat napit. Hutiin siis meni Rautalan arvaus.

     It was given by the nurse, who had a name tag above her left breast: Laura. The name reminded Rautala of the servants in old firms, who submissively nod and tiptoe around in the large dining hall to check that everything is ready at the dinner table for the landowner and his mistress. The Elovena girl seen in advertisements also came to mind, even though Laura had jet black hair and her ears had black ear buds, so Rautala's guess was wrong.

• Laura is the 14^th most common female given name in Finland, belonging to 23,297 female individuals (and as a middle name to 3,403 more), according to February 2023 data from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland.

Borrowed from Late Latin Laura. A Latinate variant of Laure.

• IPA^(key): /lɔ.ʁa/

• Audio

  (file)

Laura f

1. a female given name

From Latin Laura.

• IPA^(key): [ˈlaʊ̯ʁa]

• Audio (Austria)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Lau‧ra

Laura (genitive Lauras or Laura)

1. a female given name

Borrowed from Latin Laura.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaw.ra/
• Rhymes: -awra
• Hyphenation: Làu‧ra

Laura f

1. a female given name

First recorded as a given name of Latvians in 1819. From Latin Laura.

Laura f

1. a female given name

• Lauris

• Klāvs Siliņš: Latviešu personvārdu vārdnīca. Riga "Zinātne" 1990, →ISBN
• Population Register of Latvia: Laura was the only given name of 8301 persons in Latvia on May 21st 2010.

Laura f

1. a female given name

From Latin Laura.

Laura

1. a female given name

Borrowed from Latin Laura.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaw.ra/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -awra
• Syllabification: Lau‧ra

Laura f

1. a female given name, equivalent to English Laura

• Laura in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from Latin Laura.

• Homophone: laura
• Rhymes: -awɾɐ
• Hyphenation: Lau‧ra

Laura f

1. a female given name from Latin, equivalent to English Laura

• IPA^(key): /ˈɫau̯ra/

Laura f (genitive singular Laury, nominative plural Laury, declension pattern of žena)

1. a female given name

• Lara
• Lola, Lolka
• Lolina, Lolinka
• Lalina, Lalinka
• Lóra
• Laurika
• Lorka

• “Laura”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

From Latin Laura.

Laura f

1. a female given name from Latin

From Latin Laura. First recorded in Sweden in 1737.

• Audio

  (file)

Laura c (genitive Lauras)

1. a female given name