Rate this name:




(2 votes)
New German name
Loreley is the name of a rock at the edge of the Rhine near Koblenz. In the 19th century, first Clemens Brentano and later Heinrich Heine wrote poems about a legend based on a romantic reinterpretation of its name as a female first name (due to its resemblance to the name Lore: The siren Loreley lives on the rock and unwittingly lures boatmen to their death by combing her long blonde hair and singing. [1] [2])
The second part of the place name ley derives from a Celtic word meaning 'rock, cliff', the first part is of unknown origin and meaning. Theories include
1) Middle High German luren = 'to lure, to lie in wait'
2) Middle High German lorren, lurren = 'to cry, to shout'
3) Rhine dialect lureln = 'to murmur'
| Lorelai | ♀ | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
| Lorelay | ♀ | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
| Lorelei | ♀ | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
| Loreley | ♀ | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
| Lóreley | ♀ | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
| The German pronunciation of Loreley can be found on our sister site www.germannames.de. |

| Country | Commonness
Commonness | Total | Female ♀ | Male ♂ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | as main name# | also middle name& | as main name# | also middle name& | as main name# | also middle name& | |
Sweden[3] |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
5 | 13 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 0 |
Finland[4] |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
n.a. |
8 | n.a. |
8 | 0 | 0 |
Iceland[5] |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
3 | 3 | n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
Denmark[6] |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
0 | n.a. |
0 | n.a. |
0 | n.a. |
Norway[7] |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
0 | n.a. |
0 | n.a. |
0 | n.a. |
Greenland[8] |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
0 | 0 | n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
n.a. |
| #: count of main first name only | |||||||
| &: count of both main and additional first names | |||||||
| Name counts are approximate as statistics normally is not published for names given to less than 3 or 5 persons per country. |
|||||||
No recent statistics trend found in databases for Loreley.