Loreal is likely influenced by the French word l'oréal and by names like Laurel or Lora; it has a modern stylish feel.
Loreal draws its primary imaginative power from two overlapping sources: the ancient Rhine legend of the Lorelei, and the global cosmetics empire whose name echoes it. The original Loreley is a dramatic slate rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near Sankt Goarshausen in Germany, a site so notorious for wrecking ships that medieval imagination populated it with a siren — a golden-haired enchantress whose song lured sailors to their doom.
Heinrich Heine immortalized her in his 1824 poem "Die Lorelei," set to music by Friedrich Silcher, and she became one of the defining romantic figures of German literature. The French cosmetics company L'Oréal was founded in 1909 by chemist Eugène Schueller, who named his first hair-color product "L'Auréale" — a reference to the halo of light (from Latin "aureus," golden) evoked by beautifully colored hair. The brand's later global name blended that golden resonance with a vaguely romantic European sound, and its famous tagline "Because you're worth it" made it synonymous with self-confidence and feminine aspiration for generations.
As a given name, Loreal emerged in African American communities during the late twentieth century, part of a rich tradition of creative name formation that found beauty and aspiration in glamorous brand sounds. It carries connotations of elegance, confidence, and worth — a name that declares its bearer deserving of the finest things.