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- Origin: Italian
- Meaning: unknown
- Gender: feminine
- Pron: (LOH-ray-DAH-nah)
The name is of uncertain origin or meaning, but has been attested in Venice since the 16th-century. It was the name of Loredana Marcello (d. 1572), the wife of Doge Mocenigo of Venice. It is suspected to be derived from the surname, Loredan, which was the family name of a noble family in the Republic of Venice. According to legend, they derived their name from the Latin Laureati, Lauretani (laureled), owing to the idea that they descended from “fame and glory.”
The name went from being an obscure regional name to a popular name throughout Italy due to Luciano Zuccoli’s novel, L’amore di Loredana (1908). It was also used earlier by French author George Sand in her novel, Mattea (1833), but the name never became widespread in the French-speaking world.
At the turn of the 20th-century, when it first became popular in Italy, it may have been used by devout Catholic families, especially in the South of Italy, who mistakenly believed it referenced, Loreto, as in Our Lady of Loreto.
The designated name-day in Italy is December 10th.
The name is also used in Albania, Romania, Slovenia and the other former Yugoslav countries.
Slovenian forms include: Loridina, Lorica (loh-REET-sah) & Lorka.
An obscure Italian variation is Oredana and the masculine Oredano.
The French form is Lorédane and its masculine form of Lorédan.
Italian short forms include: Dana, Lora & Lori.
There is an Italian masculine form, though rare, which is Loredano and also the Croatian, Lordan.
It is borne by Swiss female rapper of Albanian descent, known simply as Loredana (b. 1995).
Sources
Gender: Feminine
Gender: Feminine
Gender: Masculine
Gender: Female
Gender: Feminine
The name is also borne by a very popular 3rd century saint. St. Maurice was an Egyptian by birth and a Roman citizen. He served in the Roman army and was apart of the Theban legions, which had been stationed in Switzerland at the time of the saint’s martyrdom. According to legend, Emperor Maximian ordered Maurice and his legions to destroy a local Christian community, when Maurice and his followers refused to harass fellow Christians, the emperor ordered them to be executed. The area of martyrdom is now known as Saint Maurice-en-Valais and the Abbey of Saint Maurice-en-Valais supposedly houses the saint’s relics.
The saint also gave his name to another town in Switzerland: St. Moritz, (Top of the World), is a beautiful little resort town that sits in the Valley of Engadine and the canton of Graubünden. Their coat of arms actually features the legendary saint. St. Maurice is also venerated among Coptic Christians. In fact, the names Maurice and Maurikios are fairly common among Egyptian Christians.
Gender: Feminine
Legitimate Baby Names 