Blend of Zena and Nora, or variant of Zenobia, from Greek 'Zenobios' meaning 'life of Zeus.'
Zenora is a rare and radiant name most plausibly connected to the classical Zenobia, from the Greek Zenobios, meaning 'life of Zeus.' Zenobia herself was one of antiquity's most remarkable figures: the third-century Queen of Palmyra who challenged the Roman Empire, extended her kingdom across Egypt and much of Asia Minor, and declared herself Empress of the East before her capture by Aurelian in 274 CE.
She was celebrated by later historians as a polyglot scholar and fearless military commander, and her name carried an aura of fierce, intellectual sovereignty into the centuries that followed. Zenora strips the name to a more intimate and musical form, losing the biographical freight while retaining the bright Z-opening that gives it its particular spark. It may also represent a blend of Zenobia with Nora (from the Latin Honoria, meaning 'honor') or with the Arabic Zainab (a fragrant flowering tree), depending on the cultural context in which it arose.
The name appears sporadically in English-language records from the Victorian era onward, when classically inflected names with exotic resonance were fashionable among parents seeking something beyond the standard Jane or Mary. Today Zenora occupies a charmed space: classical without being overused, feminine without being soft, and alive with the faint echo of a warrior queen who refused to kneel.