Eleanor traces back to Old Provençal Alienor and ultimately to the Greek Helene (Helen), meaning "shining light" or "bright one." The name entered English with Eleanor of Aquitaine — one of the most powerful women of the twelfth century, queen consort first of France and then of England, and patron of the troubadour culture that helped invent the modern idea of romantic love.
Through Eleanor of Aquitaine, the name became a fixture of English royalty: Eleanor of Provence, Eleanor of Castile, the Eleanor Crosses, the Eleanor that runs through every century of English history. In the twentieth century, Eleanor Roosevelt redefined what an American first lady could be.
Eleanor has been quietly classical for most of a millennium and quietly popular for most of a century. Recently it has surged in the U.S. and the U.K., one of a wave of long, dignified names — Eleanor, Eloise, Penelope, Genevieve — returning to favour.
Eleanor reduces to eight in Pythagorean numerology — the number of leadership, ambition, and material strength.