Lourdes is named for the French town of Lourdes in the Pyrenees, where in 1858 a 14-year-old peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous reported eighteen visions of the Virgin Mary at a grotto. The site has since become one of the most-visited Catholic pilgrimage destinations in the world, particularly associated with miraculous healings.
Lourdes is used as a girl's name particularly in Spain and Latin America. Madonna's daughter Lourdes Leon (born 1996) brought the name international attention. The pronunciation is one syllable in English (LOORD), but the original Spanish has a softer two-syllable feel.
Lourdes reduces to nine — the number of pilgrimage devotion.