Liora is indeed a feminine form of
Lior, although
Lior and
Orli are for both sexes.
I would say Liora sounds more feminine to American & European people, because to them "or" isn't a classic feminine ending (this is also why
Yocheved became Yachet
http://snipurl.com/bnxq,
Vered Varda,
Ruth Rutilia,
Miriam Maria and so on). That's why it's probably more used in Diasporah than in
Israel.
Now, for the name Liora itself... One of its earlier forms is Eliora (although the meaning is different, they're close on paper and by sound), which gave Aliénor.
Namesake:
A daughter of
King Charles Martel (
http://www.bartleby.com/65/ch/CharlesMar.html), named
Hiltrud Eliora. Several forms of the name Eliora are found: Alienor, Aliora,
Elia and Alienora. She was born in 720 and died in 754. She married
Duke Odilon of Bavaria and is the mother of Tassilon III of Bavaria.
I hope it helped!
Claire
Edited to add:
http://www.hebrewletters.com/item.cfm?itemid=5620
http://www.hebrewletters.com/item.cfm?itemid=4651This message was edited 12/29/2004, 5:08 PM