Leonora is the Italian short form of Eleonora, the name that became Eleanor in English; its origin is uncertain, most often traced to the Occitan Aliénor and sometimes read as "light" through Helen or "compassion" through Arabic. Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, has a heroine named Leonore, and the name has a stately, musical ring. Leonora has climbed from around number 3400 in 2015 to number 1772 among girls' names in 2025, its highest rank in the data.