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My first thought was Arden spelled backwards. My second is that it's a feminine spin on Ned, a nickname for Edward. Interestingly, Nedra is also a Serbian and Croatian word meaning "bosom, breast" and perhaps in a figurative sense "heart". However, as an American name, Nedra seems to be inspired by the 1905 novel by George Barr McCutcheon (according to a submitted name on this site); Nedra is the name of an island where 2 survivors of a shipwreck find themselves on. I can't help wondering if McCutcheon based it on Arden spelled backwards; as well as being an author he was also a playwright and from what I've read of the plot it seems to share a few similarities with Shakespeare's play As You Like It, where most of the action takes place in the Forest of Arden. But I've never read the book so I can't be certain of that. Just a guess.

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“Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny.”
-Carl Schurz

This message was edited 5/22/2020, 6:52 PM