Loretta Is Not in the Bible — the Name Means a Crown

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Loretta is not in the Bible. It comes from a wreath of leaves.

Loretta is most likely an altered form of Lauretta, the Italian diminutive of Laura — from the laurel, the bay tree whose leaves were woven into wreaths for victors, poets and generals in the ancient world.

A second influence is usually noted: Loreto, the Italian town whose shrine of the Holy House draws pilgrims. The tradition there holds that the house of Mary at Nazareth was carried to the Adriatic coast. Historians generally attribute the transfer to a family named Angeli rather than to angels, and the honest thing is to say that the shrine is old and beloved and the legend is a legend.

The laurel is the firmer root. So: a name that means a crown.

No. But the wreath is, and Paul is preoccupied with it.

He had watched athletes train. He uses them constantly, and never sentimentally:

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever. (1 Corinthians 9:25)

The crown he means is literally the wreath — the perishable circle of leaves handed to the winner, which browned within days. That was the point of his comparison, and it was obvious to everyone who heard it and is invisible to most of us now.

Near the end of his life he writes:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

Note the last clause. He adds it deliberately. The crown is not scarce, and he will not let anyone read his sentence as a boast.

James offers the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him (James 1:12), and Peter the crown of glory that will never fade away (1 Peter 5:4) — written, pointedly, to elders, about looking after people rather than lording it over them.

And the strangest image in Revelation: the twenty-four elders, who have crowns, and who keep taking them off. They lay their crowns before the throne (Revelation 4:10). Whatever is won is handed back.

There is one more crown in the Gospels, and it is the reason the others can be spoken of at all. Soldiers twisted thorns into a circle and pressed it down, as a joke about kingship (Matthew 27:29).

Every wreath in the New Testament is written in the shadow of that one. Christian victory language is never triumphalist for long, because it keeps running into the thorns.

May we train for the crown that keeps, and not resent the training.

May we hold whatever we are given loosely enough to lay it down.

And may we remember which crown was worn first.

What does Loretta mean?

It is most likely an altered form of Lauretta, the Italian diminutive of Laura, from the laurel wreath given to victors.

Is Loretta connected to the shrine at Loreto?

The town’s name is usually given as a secondary influence. The Holy House legend is a legend; historians generally attribute the transfer to a family named Angeli.

What does the Bible say about crowns?

Paul’s crown is literally the athlete’s wreath, which browned within days (1 Corinthians 9:25). James 1:12 and 1 Peter 5:4 add others, and in Revelation 4:10 the elders keep laying theirs down.

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