Laura

This name means “Laurel, from the place of laurel trees, laurel branch, laurel wreath.” The Laurel tree was sacred to the god Apollo and is a symbol of wisdom and glory. The name Laura and its variants are derived from the “bay laurel plant,” which was used as a symbol of victory, honor, or fame in the Greco-Roman era. In British North America, Laura’s name was likely trendy for female newborns until its rapid decline starting in the late 19th-century. The name Laura was among the top 40 names for female newborns for much of the late 19th-century in the United States until it dropped off the chart in 1899 at #43. Saint Laura of Cordoba (Spanish: Santa Laura de Córdoba) († 864) was a Spanish Christian who lived in Muslim Spain during the 9th-century. The Blessed Laura Vicuña (1891–1904) is a Chilean holy figure canonized as blessed by the Roman Catholic Church. She is the patron of abuse victims. Saints Florus and Laurus are venerated as Christian martyrs of the 2nd-century. According to a Greek tale, they were twin brothers who worked as stonemasons.