Loralei as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Loralei

What is the meaning of the name Loralei ?

The baby name Loralei is a Female name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced /ˈlɔːrəlaɪ/ (LOR-ə-lye) or /lɔːrəˈleɪ/ (lor-ə-LAY).

Loralei is German in Origin.

Loralei is a modern English respelling of Lorelei, the German place-name Loreley on a cliff above the Rhine. The elements likely combine luren “to lurk, to lure” (or the onomatopoetic loreln “to murmur”) with ley/lei “slate rock, cliff,” yielding meanings such as “luring rock,” “murmuring rock,” or “alluring cliff.” In folklore the Lorelei is a Rhine siren whose beauty and song wreck passing boats, a legend popularized across Europe.

As a given name, it entered English use in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, spreading after Heinrich Heine’s poem Die Lorelei and surging with Anita Loos’s flapper heroine Lorelei Lee (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1925; film 1953) and TV’s Lorelai Gilmore. Spelling variants include Lorelei (standard), Lorelai, Loralie, Lorelie, Loralee, and Loreley; Loralei sits among these as a phonetic twist. Diminutives include Lori, Lora, and Rory.