A female name. the history and origin of this name are somewhat obscure. Laurencia, Lauretta, Laura, or Lora are all fairly common from the end of the 12th C; Laurencia is evidently a Latin f. form of the popular name Laurence, and it is possible that Laura was a pet-form of it, and Lauretta a diminutive of Laura. Laura occurs from time to time in the 16th and 17th C, and Lyford 1655 gives Lora, Laurana, Laurentia, and Laureola all as f. christian names. Lora was the usual Provençal spelling, e.g. of the name of Petrarch’s mistress Lora de Sades. Laura is common in Wales and has latterly come more into favour in England after being neglected for some time. The pet-form Lolly is sometimes used.

Lauretta Curia Regis Rolls 1203-15. Laura Curia Regis Rolls 1210-12. Lora Hundred Rolls 1273, Feudal Aids 1346, Yorks Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Laurencia Testa de Neville, or Book of Fees, temp. Hen. III-Edw. I 13th C. Loretta Testa de Neville, or Book of Fees, temp. Hen. III-Edw. I 13th C. Lore English Register of Godstow Nunnery, c. 1450 (E.E.T.S. 129-30) 1450.

Would appear to have been coined from Latin laurus, the laurel-tree, as a f. of Laurence and its Continental equivalents (e. g. Italian and Spanish Lorenzo). It was a favourite with English lyric and pastoral poets of mid C16-early 18, probably owing to the example of Petrarch, who in his sonnets to Laura made this name as poetically famous as Dante did Beatrice.

A female name derived from the Latin laurus, a laurel or baytree, dedicated to Apollo, used in triumphs, and worn by emperors and poets in garlands. Tullius Laurea was the appellation of a freedman of Cicero. Laura corresponds to the Greek name Daphne.

Latin (feminine) - fig. Crowned with laurel.

A Latin name, meaning: The laurel. (Greek) The cloistered.