Feminine form of Isidore, from Greek 'Isis' (Egyptian goddess) and 'doron' (gift), meaning 'gift of Isis'.
Isidora is the feminine form of Isidore, a name of Greek construction meaning "gift of Isis"—combining Isis, the supreme goddess of ancient Egypt, with doron, the Greek word for "gift." The name was formed in the Hellenistic period, when Greek-speaking communities lived alongside Egyptian religious culture throughout the Mediterranean world and adopted Isis worship enthusiastically. To name a child Isidora was to dedicate her to the most powerful goddess of the ancient world, a deity of motherhood, magic, healing, and rebirth.
With the spread of Christianity the name did not disappear—it transformed. Saint Isidore of Seville, the seventh-century bishop and encyclopedist whose Etymologiae attempted to catalog all human knowledge, is among the most famous bearers of the masculine form. The feminine Isidora also produced saints: Saint Isidora of Egypt, a fourth-century monastic figure said to feign madness to avoid praise, became an unlikely heroine of desert spirituality.
The name persisted in Spain, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, where Orthodox Christianity kept its calendar of saints' days alive. In modern usage Isidora is experiencing a thoughtful revival, particularly in Spanish-speaking countries and among parents seeking classical names with genuine depth. It has historical glamour too: Isadora Duncan, the revolutionary American dancer who stripped away the rigid conventions of classical ballet in favor of natural movement, gave the name a bohemian, artistic legacy. The slight spelling variation Isidora feels more closely tied to its ancient roots, both sacred and scholarly.