This profile is inspired by an ancient folkloric character who continues to have a hold on popular culture.
Scheherazade (pronounced "sheh-heh-rah-ZAH-day") is a Persian name derived from Sahrazad, a name recorded by a scholar named Ibn al-Nadim. The meaning he proscribed to the name was "she whose land is free." Other sourced state that the name means "born in the city" or "of noble lineage." The popular fairy tale character was partially based off of another legendary queen. Homay, daughter of Bahman, was sometimes known as Cehrazad, meaning "she who appears noble."
This is the name of the legendary Persian queen and the storyteller in One Thousand and One Nights, a compilation of folk tales throughout West and South Asia. Scheherazade's story is what is known as a frame story, a literary technique in which the main narrative exists for the purpose of setting the stage for other stories. So in a way, Scheherazade is really just a device much like how The Illustrated Man really isn't about The Illustrated Man. One Thousand and One Nights includes a wide variety of genres. Some are very long while others only last one sentence. The English translations added popular stories like "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp," "The Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor," and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves."
Most people have at least a passing familiarity with Scheherazade's story. Before he met Scheherazade, King Shahryar was married to a woman who turned out to be unfaithful. Unable to trust a woman again, he would marry a new virgin only to behead her the next day. Eventually the Vizier cannot find any more women. Against her father's wishes, the Vizier's daughter volunteers as the new bride. That would be Scheherazade.
Scheherazade was a very bookish girl, and was determined to stay alive. So that night she asked the King if she could bit farewell to her beloved sister Dinazade. Dinazade asked Scheherazade to tell her a story, which was preplanned. The King listened to her all through the night, but then Scheherazade stopped in the middle. The King wanted her to continue, but Scheherazade replied that she couldn't because it was dawn and therefore it was time for her execution. He had no choice but to allow her to live for another night. The next night, she finished the story but left the next one unfinished. So the King had to allow her to live for the next night. After 1,001 nights and having given birth to three princes, Scheherazade finally ran out of stories. But the King had fallen in love with her and decided to make her Queen.
Scheherazade has been a well known character in the Western world for a very long time, but her name has never been a popular name in the United States. It's a heck of a name to figure out how to spell and pronounce if you're unfamiliar with it. Still, it has a positive association and an exotic sound. There are lots of reasons to be attracted to it.