Lara is a Russian female name, a shortened form of Larissa, the name of a city in Thessaly, Greece, that dates back to five thousand years ago (it’s also the name of a few other towns in the region). Apparently the city received its name from a nymph named Larissa, the daughter of Pelasgus (or the mother in some versions) and which means “stronghold”, “citadel”, or “fortress”. I’ve also seen other sites list it as being derived from  Ancient Greek larix meaning “larch (tree)”, laros, referring to a cormorant or a gull, or laros “sweet, pleasing to the taste”, but I can’t say how accurate any of them are.

Lara could also be a short form of Larunda, also a nymph in Roman mythology (also associated with Muta and Tacita). She was a great talker and couldn’t keep secrets to herself and revealed to Juno that her…