# Nora



## the queen

Does the name Nora means anything in arabian Arabic? 
A person once told me that it means LIGHT is it true ? 
I would appreciate your answer.


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## WadiH

the queen said:


> does the name nora means anything in arabian
> A person once told me that it means LIGHT is it true
> I would appreciate your answer


 
Yep.


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## Josh_

"Nuur" (the vowel is like the 'oo' in moon) means light, but as for the name 'Nora', I do not know if it comes from the Arabic word, but my thinking is that it does not.  It may just be a coincidence.


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## the queen

I also think that it's just a coincidence. It cannot be Arabic, but anyway thanks a lot. I appreciate your answers very much.


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## WadiH

the queen said:


> I also think that its just a coincidence it cannot be arabic but anyway thanks a lot I appreciate your answers very much


 
No, in Arabic, the pronunciation is "Noorah", which comes from light. It may not sound like "classical" Arabic, but that doesn't mean it's not Arabic. It's very popular in Nejd (in the center of Arabia) and has been used for centuries before people in that region started using names from neighboring countries and regions. In fact, half the people I know in Riyadh have grandmothers named Noorah. The first king of Saudi Arabia, King Abdul Aziz, had a sister named Noorah, and he frequently would use the words "W'anakhoo Noorah" ("and I am the brother of Noorah") when taking a vow.

--Note: I'm not saying that the name "Nora" in western languages necessarily comes from Arabic. I think it's a matter of two unrelated words from different languages that sound similar and happen to be used as female names.


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## Josh_

Wadi Hanifa said:


> --Note: I'm not saying that the name "Nora" in western languages necessarily comes from Arabic. I think it's a matter of two unrelated words from different languages that sound similar and happen to be used as female names.


Yes, that's what I think as well, and why I responded the way I did.


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## Tariq_Ibn_zyad

> I'm not saying that the name "Nora" in western languages necessarily comes from Arabic. I think it's a matter of two unrelated words from different languages that sound similar and happen to be used as female names.



exactly.

Same thing with Nadia,which is very frequent in Europe and comes from Russian,While In north africa it's a very common name,but it's arabic "naadiya" but it's spelled the french way "nadia" (as it's always done in North Africa)


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## WadiH

Josh Adkins said:


> Yes, that's what I think as well, and why I responded the way I did.


 
Sorry, I kind of understood from her that she thought the Arabic version of the word was not Arabic.  I see I was probably mistaken.


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## Josh_

Oh no, no need to apologize. I think your response was very relevant -- definitely more comprehensive than mine.  I think it's interesting discussing and sorting these kinds of things out on the forum.  I enjoyed reading through the 'open sesame' thread for that reason.


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## Abu Bishr

Hi Guys

A very good friend of mine's wife's name is "Nelly", and she wanted to know what the meaning and origin of her name were, so she checked it out. Apparently, it's a variation of "Eleanor", "Helen", "Nora", and so on. Here check this link. Now, if you make a google search for the meaning and origin of "Eleanor", you'll find that it means "light" or "shining light". Now, that is interesting because "Eleanor" sounds very much like the Arabic "al-Nuur" which means "the light". Here is one link that gives you "Eleanor" as meaning "Light" and they trace the origin to Greek .This link here says it means "shining light" and comes from Greek. Other links confirm this. So "Nora" after all means "light" even in Greek. The question is then: is it a coincidence that "Eleanor" or "Nora" means the same in Greek and Arabic, or is it that Arabic borrowed it from Greek (as is sometimes the case) or is it maybe the other way around?

I hope that this information sheds a little more ligt on the topic.


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## Abu Rashid

I've found two other explanations:

Latin origin here.

And Irish origin here.


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## HKK

The explanation for the Greek origin of Eleanor isn't right. It says Eleanor means "shining light", and the next sentence says it's a variant of "Helen", which has a completely different etymology. Also, Eleanor just doesn't sound Greek at all.


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## Josh_

There is some more information here including some information about an Arabic connection.



> The explanation for the Greek origin of Eleanor isn't right. It says Eleanor means "shining light", and the next sentence says it's a variant of "Helen", which has a completely different etymology. Also, Eleanor just doesn't sound Greek at all.


They may not be related etymologically, but in modern usage they are used as variants of one another.  As for it "not sounding Greek" there is some information on that page I linked to concerning Greek name that closely resembles the English name.


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## the queen

Thanks a lot for the information, I appreciate it.


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## Beate

Hello,

I once read that Eleonore is the hispanized form of 
"Allahu nuri"(God is my light). The name has its origins in muslim Andalucia and come to Central Europe via Spain and France.

Derivations of this name are Leonie and Leonor.

Bye Beate


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## Mahaodeh

^^ Allahu nuri doesn't really seem like a name, it's more like an expression.  Even if it is a name it is probably a male name.  I prefer Abu Bishr's analysis.

However, I personally think that they are not related and Eleanor is probably more related to "Honor" than "Noor.


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## Outsider

Hello.

In Portuguese, there's the common noun _nora_, from Arabic _na'ûra_, according to this dictionary. It's what we call this contraption (a noria, in English).

On the other hand, there's also a word _nora_ from Latin _nura_ which means "daughter-in-law".

However, "Nora" is not used as a proper noun, and as far as I am aware it never has been.


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