Pari

The story about Paribanu in 1001 Arabian Nights isn't redundant. Pari means faerie. Banu means lady. Paribanu means fairy lady.

Pari is also Peri. It is a Persian name from folklore. A Peri is a persian dev (or nature spirit), the result of a union between a mortal and a God. It is forever banned from Paradise until atoning for the sins of its parents. Although it was first given in the earliest Persian folklore to be a malicious spirit (in female form, bent upon seducing males and driving them to their destruction), it has since come to be known as one that is generally well-intentioned but mischevious. Numerous tales exist of the Peri, some of them accessible on the internet when looking at Persian folklore and myth. It is also given definition in Mirriam Webster's dictionary as "a beautiful woman." How is it that I have researched this so thoroughly? Because my mother was both a frustrated english teacher AND a crossword puzzle fanatic, and found me in a book of Dell Crossword puzzles as 17 Across: An Elf. 4 Letters. It won't be so cute when I'm 90.

Pari can also be short for Paradise.