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Enola first appeared in Enola; or, Her fatal mistake, an 1886 book written by Mary Young Ridenbaugh. An explanation of sorts is given in the passage:
"In calling me by the strange name of 'Enola,' I wonder if my dear departed parents
received a glimpse of the future life of their child in a camera, speaking to them
of her life of loneliness," mused Enola, "for truly I am alone..."
According to native-languages.org "Some sources on the Internet claim that this is a Native American name meaning "solitary." Someone must have pulled one over on them at some point, because it's an English name meaning "solitary." Look at it closely... it's the word "alone" spelled backwards. :-) It was invented as the name of the heroine of an old romance novel, and real-life Enolas, like Enola Gay, were named after the fictional heroine." You will find a lot of people claiming it is an ancestral Cherokee name however, and it's impossible to tell if Inola or Inole has been altered by association with Enola, or if they're deliberately or naively miss-representing their ancestry.

This message was edited 6/26/2018, 6:46 AM