Leonora

Leonora is an Italian contracted form of Eleonora, which itself is of uncertain ultimate origin, though it may derive from the Old French or Provençal form of the Germanic name Alienor, possibly rooted in a Germanic element meaning foreign or the other. The name gained wide circulation in medieval Europe partly through Eleanor of Aquitaine, the influential 12th-century queen consort of both France and England. Leonora has appeared in opera and literature, most notably as the heroine of Beethoven's opera Fidelio and Verdi's Il Trovatore. Related forms include Eleanor, Eleonora, Lenora, and Nora.