Baby name story: Elora

I was reminded of this story when I saw the name Elora on yesterday’s list of baby girl names outside the top 1,000:

Several years ago, Elaine Yuen named her daughter Elora after the Elora Gorge in Ontario, Canada. She was mainly paying tribute to fond memories of hiking in the area, but also liked that Elora began with El- (like her name) and that it’s a “short form of Elnora, derived from Eleanor, which means light.”

[That last part is incorrect. The name of gorge comes from the name of a town, which comes from the name of a ship, which comes from the name of the Ellora Caves in India. So, no connection to Eleanor. Also (kind of a moot point now) Eleanor probably doesn’t mean “light,” though many sources claim that it does. It’s more likely to mean “the other Aenor.”]

In any case, Elora Gorge Conservation Area superintendent Dan Morden said that, as far as he knew, Elaine’s Elora was the first baby to be named after the gorge.

Sources:

  • Connon, John. The Early History of Elora, Ontario and Vicinity. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1974.
  • Rushowy, Kristin. “Beautiful place, beautiful baby.” Toronto Star 26 Jul. 2008.

One thought on “Baby name story: Elora

  1. I was named after the Elora Gorge in 1981, my mom grew up in Kleinburg and loved the area.

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