Eleanor Roosevelt, E

Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
The name was introduced to England by Eleanor of Aquitaine, who came to marry King Henry II. It was also borne by Eleanor of Provence, who became Queen consort of England as the wife of King Henry III, and Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I.

The name was popular in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s, peaking at rank 25 in 1920. It declined below 600 by the 1970s, again rose to rank 32 in the 2010s. Eleanor Roosevelt, the longest-serving first lady of the US was probably the most famous bearer of the name in contemporary history.

Common hypocorisms include Elle, Ella, Ellie, Elly, Leonor, Leonora, Leonore, Nella, Nellie, Nelly, and Nora.

Origin

The name derives from the Provençal name Aliénor, which became Eléonore in ''Langue d'oïl'', i.e., French, and from there Eleanor in English.

The origin of the name is somewhat unclear; one of the earliest bearers appears to have been Eleanor of Aquitaine (1120s–1204). She was the daughter of Aénor de Châtellerault, and it has been suggested that having been baptized ''Aenor'' after her mother, she was called ''alia Aenor'', i.e. "the other Aenor" or Aliénor in childhood and would have kept that name in adult life.
Some sources say that the name Aénor itself may be a Latinization of an unknown Germanic name.

Eleanor of Aquitaine, the most powerful woman in 12th century Europe, was certainly the reason for the name's later popularity. However, the name's origin with her, and the explanation of ''alia Aenor'' is uncertain; there are records of possible bearers of the name Alienor earlier in the 12th, or even in the 11th or 10th centuries,
but the records of these women post-date Eleanor of Aquitaine, at a time when Alienor had come to be seen as an equivalent variant of the name Aenor (so that presumably, these women during their own lifetime used the given name Aenor):

# Alienor, wife (b. 899) (married 935) of Aimery II, Viscount of Thouars, and mother of Herbert I (born 960).
# Aleanor de Thouars (1050-1088/93), grandmother of Aénor of Châtellerault, and thus Eleanor of Aquitaine's great-grandmother. Born c. 1060 as a daughter of Aimery IV of Thouars and Aurengarde de Mauleon. Her name is also cited in some documents as Adenor, Aenors and Aleanor/Alienor, and may have been corrupted to Alienor in genealogies only after the 12th century.
# Eleanor of Normandy, aunt of William the Conqueror, was so named by the 17th-century genealogist Pierre de Guibours, but de Guibours' sources for this remain unknown.
# Eleanor of Champagne (1102–1147), in 1125 became the first wife of Ralph I, Count of Vermandois, who was displaced by Eleanor of Aquitaine's sister Petronilla of Aquitaine, leading to war (1142–44) in Champagne.

Variants

* Brittany: Azenor
* English: Eleanor, Elinor
* Estonian: Eleonoora, Ellinor
* French: Eléonore, Éléonore, Léonore, Elléonore, Eléanor, Éléanor, Éléanore, Aliénor, Aénor
* German: Eleonore
* Greek: Ελεονώρα
* Hungarian, Slovakian: Eleonóra
* Irish: Eileanóra, Elienor
* Italian, Dutch, Polish: Eleonora
* Latvian: Eleonora
* Occitan: Alienor, Alienòr
* Portuguese: Leonora, Leonor
* Provençal: Lenoa, Leno
* Spanish: Leonor
* Swedish: Eleanora, Ellinor, Elleonore, Elna

Notable people

Medieval

* Eleanor of Normandy (b. 1011/1013, d. after 1071), daughter of Richard II of Normandy.
* Eleanor of Aquitaine (ca. 1122–1204), wife of Louis VII of France and Henry II of England, mother of Richard I and King John
* Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile (1161–1214), daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine; wife of Alfonso VIII of Castile
* Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany (1184–1241), daughter of Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany
* Eleanor of Brittany (abbess) (1285-1342), granddaughter of Eleanor of Provence and Henry III, and later Abbess of Fontevraud
* Eleanor of Castile (1202-1244) (1202–1244), wife of James I of Aragon
* Eleanor of England, Countess of Leicester (1215–1275), daughter of King John of England, wife of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester
* Eleanor of Provence (1222–1291), wife of Henry III of England, mother of Edward I
* Eleanor of Castile (1241–1290), wife of Edward I of England, mother of Edward II
* Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar (1269–1298), daughter of Edward I, betrothed to Alfonso III of Aragon, and wife of Henry III of Bar
* Eleanor of Anjou (1289-1341), daughter of Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary, and wife of Frederick III of Sicily
* Eleanor de Clare (1292-1337), granddaughter of Edward I of England and wife of Hugh Despenser the Younger
* Eleanor of Castile (1307-1359) (1307–1359), wife of Alfonso IV of Aragon
* Eleanor of Woodstock (1318–1355), daughter of Edward II, wife of Reynold II, Count of Gelderland
* Eleanor of Arborea (1347 – 1404), Sardinian judge
* Eleanor of Sicily (1349-1375), wife of Peter IV of Aragon
* Leonor Telles de Menezes (1350–1386), wife of Ferdinand I of Portugal
* Eleanor of Castile (d. 1416) (136x–1416), wife of Charles III of Navarre
* Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal

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