I am intrigued by my name, spelt Lora, which in most name resources is
listed only as the Germanic form of Laura.  However I was given the
spelling after the Falls of Lora, which are situated near Oban in the
west coast of Scotland.  Nearby there is also a Beinn Lora.  Realising
that there must be a Scottish root I tried doing some research on the
internet.  All I can find however is several references to Ossian's
poems where a Dun-Lora, River Lora, Lora's Heath and Battle of Lora
are mentioned among others.  Can anyone find the origin and meaning of
the name? Thank you

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Request for Question Clarification by scriptor-ga on 08 Aug 2005 14:13 PDT

Dear beatha,

Since I have no definitive results so far concerning the origin of the
presumably Gaelic term Lora, this is of course not an answer, only a
report about what I found out.

First, it is interesting that all the Lora-related place names from
Ossian's work obviously have been made up by the poet. He did not
invent the places, only the names. The Waters of Lora and the Falls of
Lora are actually Loch Etive with its rapids known as Falls of Connel.
Those rapids recieved the name "Falls of Lora" only after Ossian's
poem had made them famous. Ossian's Dun-Lora (dun = fortified stone
house) is actually Dunstaffnage Castle at Loch Etive / Lora.[1] 
Ossian had decided to overlay actual geography with names he
considered more adequate for his poetic work, which is of course the
privilege of an author.

This does, unfortunately, not yet explain where the name Lora, of
which Ossian makes almost inflationary use, derives from. The only
trace so far is nearby Beinn Lora: "Behind Benderloch village lies Ben
Lora, named after a Celtic goddess."[2] It sounds feasible that Ossian
took inspiration from the name of an ancient Celtic goddess. Alas, I
have not been able yet to find out what goddess is meant. "Lora" might
be a corrupted spelling, and I just can't figure out under what
spelling the goddess is listed in texts on ancient Celtic mythology.
But I keep on searching, and maybe I or one of my colleagues will be
successful.

Regards,
Scripto


[1] http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/pt4/pt410.htm
[2] http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:yzVJpuuH0XgJ:www.angelfire.com/rant/delsask/deirdre.html

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Clarification of Question by beatha-ga on 09 Aug 2005 07:00 PDT

Thanks for your help.  Even if not an answer you gave me some helpful
info and interesting facts.  I never knew that the falls were named
from Ossian's poems, and the reference to a Celtic goddess is
promising - I might now be able to look further on my own.  Thanks
again, Lora.