Enola

Meaning:  (Possibly the reversal of the word “Alone”. The name Enola is often taken as a Native American name, but its probable etymology is an English one: simply “Alone” backwards. The name appeared in the late 19^th Century and gained popularity with similar names like Zola, Nola, and Leola. Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima during WWII. The airplane was named after the pilot Paul Tibbet’s mother, Enola Gay Tibbets, who was in turn named after the heroine of a novel. The name has also appeared in literature, borne by a character also called Enola Gay in Martin Amis’ black comic novel London Fields (1989).)

Origin: (English, American)

Pronunciation: (ee-NO-luh, iy-NOWLuw)

Gender: Female, Possibly Uni-Sex

I was watching the 1995 movie Waterworld the other day. It’s been on quite a lot recently. Anyway it was about the world having no more land, supposedly. Everyone lives in floating cities and towns, as the whole world is water, as the title entails. So this little girl who is the key to it all is named Enola. I won’t spoil the movie for anyone who hasn’t seen it but I just wanted to give details on where I at first saw this name.

The name always intrigued me since I first saw the movie when it came out in ‘95. Now that I saw it again I decided to add it here. I found it quite interesting that this name had such a famous history as being the name of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima during WWII.

I usually don’t like names that are just words spelled backwards….ex. Nevaeh which is Heaven spelled backwards. But Enola really doesn’t peeve me off at all like some backward spelled word / names. It seems fresh but with an interesting history of use. I am actually thinking of using it as the name of one of my races of people in one of my future stories. The story will be using the names Amita and Jensi too *see on list of posts*. Anyway in the story Enola is more than just interesting looking the meaning of Alone ties into the races background. Anyway I really just like this name a lot. I would love to see this used more, but in a proper setting.