Few words in contemporary popular culture bridge the gap between medieval French romance, literary English tradition, and modern rock music as effectively as Paramore. The Paramore meaning sits at the intersection of two things: a band name chosen by one of the most successful rock bands of the 21st century, and the deeper linguistic and cultural history of the word it echoes — “paramour,” meaning a secret or illicit lover, derived from the Old French phrase “par amour” meaning “through love” or “by love.” Whether the Paramore meaning is encountered in the context of the Tennessee rock band led by vocalist Hayley Williams, whose albums have sold millions worldwide and whose name resonates with a generation of fans, or in the older literary tradition where “paramour” described the beloved — sometimes holy, sometimes forbidden, always passionate — the word always connects to the same fundamental human experience of love that operates outside or beyond conventional social boundaries.
Understanding the full Paramore meaning requires understanding both dimensions: the band’s specific history and how its name came to echo the word “paramour,” and the rich linguistic, historical, and literary history of paramour itself — one of the most poetically charged words in the English vocabulary of love.
Table of Contents
- What Does Paramore Mean? – Core Definition
- Paramore Meaning – The Band Name Origin
- Paramour – The Word Behind Paramore
- Etymology – “Par Amour” and Old French Roots
- Paramore Meaning – Secret and Illicit Lover
- Paramore Meaning – From Sacred to Secular
- Paramour in Literature and History
- Paramore – The Band: History and Formation
- Paramore – Hayley Williams and the Sound
- Paramore – Albums and Musical Legacy
- Paramore Meaning in Modern Usage
- Pronunciation – Paramore vs Paramour
- Paramore Meaning in Pop Culture
- Synonyms and Related Words for Paramour
- Why the Paramore Meaning Endures
- FAQs About Paramore Meaning
- Conclusion
1. What Does Paramore Mean? – Core Definition
The Paramore meaning covers two interconnected senses — the band name and the word it echoes. As a band name, Paramore is the name of an American rock band formed in Franklin, Tennessee in 2004, fronted by vocalist Hayley Williams and known for albums including Riot!, Brand New Eyes, and the self-titled Paramore. As a word, Paramore is a variant spelling of “paramour” — one of the most evocative words in English for a secret, illicit, or passionate lover. Merriam-Webster defines paramour: “lover; specifically: an illicit or secret lover.”
Cambridge Dictionary provides the most accessible definition of paramour: “the person you are having a romantic or sexual relationship with, but are not married to.” Merriam-Webster’s deeper note on the Paramore meaning‘s word: “Since par amour meant ‘through love,’ it implies a relationship based solely on love, often physical love, rather than on social custom or ceremony. So today it tends to refer to the lover of a married man or woman, but may be used for any lover who isn’t obeying the social rules.” Vocabulary.com captures the word’s semantic journey: “Once upon a time, women used this word to describe Christ, and men would use it to refer to the Virgin Mary. But eventually, paramour shed its religious connotations and came to mean ‘darling’ or ‘sweetheart,’ and later ‘mistress’ or ‘clandestine lover.'”
Wikipedia documents the direct connection between the two Paramore meanings: “According to Williams, the name ‘Paramore’ came from the maiden name of the mother of one of their first bass players. Once the group learned the meaning of the homophone paramour (‘secret lover’), they decided to adopt the name, using the Paramore spelling.” The band’s deliberate adoption of a name that sounds like “paramour” — while using a distinct spelling from a real surname — gives the Paramore meaning its dual character: simultaneously a proper name and a resonant echo of the word’s literary and romantic history.
2. Paramore Meaning – The Band Name Origin
The specific origin story of the Paramore meaning as a band name is one of the most elegantly accidental naming stories in contemporary rock music. Wikipedia documents: “According to Williams, the name ‘Paramore’ came from the maiden name of the mother of one of their first bass players.” This origin — a real person’s surname, discovered and used as a band name in the early stages of the group’s formation — gives the Paramore meaning a grounded, human beginning rather than the deliberate conceptual naming that many bands employ.
The crucial second stage of the Paramore meaning‘s band name story is the discovery of the homophone’s significance. Wikipedia: “Once the group learned the meaning of the homophone paramour (‘secret lover’), they decided to adopt the name, using the Paramore spelling.” This moment of discovery — realising that the name they had been using sounded exactly like a word with rich romantic and literary resonance — transformed a practical band name into something more intentional and more charged with meaning. The WordReference Forum captures the community’s understanding: “According to this Wiki article, when they found out the meaning of paramour, they decided to keep the name Paramore because they liked having their band name sound like that word.”
The spelling distinction between Paramore (the band) and paramour (the word) is important. The band uses the spelling of the actual surname — “Paramore” rather than “Paramour” — maintaining the connection to the real person whose maiden name inspired the name while simultaneously invoking the word’s meaning. This spelling split gives the Paramore meaning a particular quality: the band name is not claiming to be the word but to echo it, to carry its resonance without being reducible to it.
3. Paramour – The Word Behind Paramore
The word “paramour” — which the Paramore meaning echoes — is one of the most historically rich and most semantically layered words in the English vocabulary of love. Merriam-Webster defines it simply: “lover; specifically: an illicit or secret lover.” But the word’s history stretches back to medieval French and Middle English, where it carried meanings ranging from the highest spiritual love to the most earthly physical passion. Dictionary.com notes: “First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from the phrase par amour ‘by love, through love,’ from Old French par ‘by, through’ + amour ‘love.'”
OED documents the word’s earliest English use: “The earliest known use of the noun paramour is in the Middle English period (1150–1500). OED’s earliest evidence for paramour is from before 1375, in William of Palerne.” This 14th-century documentation places paramour — and by extension the Paramore meaning‘s resonant ancestor — in the heart of the medieval English literary tradition, the same world that produced Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the great tradition of courtly love poetry in which forbidden and passionate love was one of the central themes.
Vocabulary.com traces the extraordinary semantic journey of the word: “Once upon a time, women used this word to describe Christ, and men would use it to refer to the Virgin Mary. But eventually, paramour shed its religious connotations and came to mean ‘darling’ or ‘sweetheart,’ and later ‘mistress’ or ‘clandestine lover.'” This journey — from the Virgin Mary to illicit lovers — captures the complete arc of the Paramore meaning‘s parent word’s history, a journey from sacred to secular that took several centuries but ultimately gave English one of its most evocative words for passionate, boundary-crossing love.
4. Etymology – “Par Amour” and Old French Roots
The etymology of the Paramore meaning‘s parent word paramour is rooted in Old French — specifically in the phrase “par amour” meaning “through love” or “by love.” Vocabulary.com provides the clearest breakdown: “The noun paramour evolved from the French phrase par amour, meaning ‘passionately’ or ‘with desire.’ If you break it down, you get par, meaning ‘by,’ and amour, the French word for love.” Dictionary.com confirms: “from Old French par ‘by, through’ (from Latin per) + amour ‘love.'”
Wiktionary documents the full etymological chain: “The adverb is derived from Middle English par amour, paramore, paramours (‘with sexual desire or love, passionately; in a courteous or friendly manner’), from Anglo-Norman par amur (‘in a friendly or willing manner’) and Old French par amur, par amour, paramours (‘by or through love’), from par (‘by; through’) (from Latin per (‘by means of, through’)) + amor, amur (‘love’) (from Latin amōrem, from amor (‘desire, lust; affection, love’)).” This etymological chain traces the Paramore meaning‘s ancestry from Latin “per” (through) and “amor” (love) through Old French and Anglo-Norman to Middle English.
Merriam-Webster adds an important nuance about the “through love” etymology’s implications for the Paramore meaning: “‘Par amour’ meant ‘through love,’ it implies a relationship based solely on love, often physical love, rather than on social custom or ceremony.” This emphasis on love as the sole basis of the relationship — rather than social convention, legal marriage, or economic arrangement — is precisely what makes paramour a word about transgressive passion rather than conventional love. The Latin “amor” that underlies the word’s etymology is explicitly passionate, desirous love — the same root that gives us “amorous,” “enamoured,” and “amour.”
5. Paramore Meaning – Secret and Illicit Lover
In its most common contemporary usage, the Paramore meaning‘s parent word paramour describes a secret or illicit lover — specifically, the lover of someone who is already married or otherwise committed. Merriam-Webster is explicit: “lover; specifically: an illicit or secret lover.” Cambridge Dictionary: “the person you are having a romantic or sexual relationship with, but are not married to.” Merriam-Webster’s note: “today it tends to refer to the lover of a married man or woman, but may be used for any lover who isn’t obeying the social rules.”
Merriam-Webster’s 2026 journalism examples show paramour — the Paramore meaning‘s parent word — in active contemporary use: “Her account put him in the position of looking like the duped lover believing the cheating married paramour’s protestation of love.” “During the course of the film, Grace deals with life, love (including a pair of paramours from the same band), professional disappointments, and the fallout of a horrible experience from her past.” “Far from a stereotypical homewrecker, Archie’s paramour (Lauren Tsai) is a blunt, hyper-logical scientist.” Each of these contemporary uses deploys the word in contexts involving romantic relationships that cross conventional boundaries.
The illicit dimension of the Paramore meaning‘s parent word connects directly to the etymology — a relationship “through love” rather than through social convention or legal institution is one that prioritises passion over propriety. Merriam-Webster captures this: “may be used for any lover who isn’t obeying the social rules.” This framing — the paramour as someone whose love relationship doesn’t follow the conventional rules — gives the Paramore meaning‘s resonant word both its romantic charge and its edge of transgression.
6. Paramore Meaning – From Sacred to Secular
One of the most remarkable aspects of the Paramore meaning‘s word history is the complete reversal of the word’s connotations across its history — from an expression used to describe divine love and sacred relationships to a word primarily associated with illicit or forbidden earthly love. Vocabulary.com documents: “Once upon a time, women used this word to describe Christ, and men would use it to refer to the Virgin Mary.” This religious usage of “paramour” — applying a phrase meaning “through love” to the relationship between a believer and Christ or the Virgin Mary — reflects the medieval understanding of divine love as the highest form of passionate devotion.
Wiktionary documents the complete range of Middle English meanings: “from Middle English paramour, paramoure, paramur, peramour (‘wife; concubine; mistress; husband; male lover; darling, sweetheart; romantic love; sexual passion; (Christianity) Jesus Christ; the Virgin Mary; divine or spiritual love’).” This extraordinary list — encompassing legal wife, sexual mistress, male lover, and Jesus Christ within a single word’s range — shows the Paramore meaning‘s ancestor word at its most semantically broad, when “through love” could describe any relationship of passionate devotion from the most sacred to the most secular.
The trajectory of the Paramore meaning‘s word from sacred to secular reflects a broader historical movement in the use of love vocabulary in Western culture — the gradual secularisation of passionate devotion language that was once shared between religious and erotic contexts. Etymonline notes the downward journey: “From 1610s in old slang in a general sense of ‘sweetheart, mistress, paramour.'” As the word moved from the religious sphere into purely secular romantic contexts, it gradually narrowed from any passionate love relationship to specifically illicit or secret ones — retaining the transgressive charge of the original “through love” while losing its sacred dimension.
7. Paramour in Literature and History
The word paramour — ancestor of the Paramore meaning — has a distinguished and extensive literary history, appearing in the works of some of the greatest writers in the English and European traditions. OED documents the earliest known use “from before 1375, in William of Palerne” — a Middle English romance — placing the word at the heart of the medieval literary tradition of courtly love. Wiktionary documents Shakespeare’s use of the related form “out-paramour” in King Lear (written c. 1603–1606), showing the word’s presence in the Elizabethan literary tradition.
Wiktionary provides an evocative 18th-century literary example from Edmund Burke: “It was no season then for her [Nature] to wanton with the Sun her lusty Paramour.” This metaphorical use — applying paramour to Nature’s relationship with the Sun — shows the word being used in the elevated register of Romantic-era nature poetry, where it carries all the passion of the human illicit lover applied to the grandest cosmic forces. Dictionary.com’s literary examples show paramour in 19th-century contexts: “Early in McMurtry’s career, a paramour gave him a sweatshirt that read ‘Minor Regional Novelist.’ A fetching lass in Regency garb and her paramour, confessing his ardor.”
The literary history of paramour — and by extension of the Paramore meaning‘s resonant ancestry — includes the entire tradition of romantic and erotic poetry in English, from Chaucer through Shakespeare through the Romantics to the present. Merriam-Webster’s assembled contemporary journalism examples show the word still alive and in active literary-journalistic use in 2026: “And faster than you can say ‘You’ve got mail!’ he fell hard for his unseen paramour.” “His Vietnamese paramour was a young woman of remarkable beauty.” The word’s persistence across seven centuries of English usage reflects its unique combination of formal elegance, romantic resonance, and edge of transgression.
8. Paramore – The Band: History and Formation
The band that carries the Paramore meaning as its name is one of the most successful rock acts of the 21st century — formed in Franklin, Tennessee in 2004 and achieving multi-platinum album sales, Grammy Awards, and a dedicated global fanbase across two decades of recording and touring. Wikipedia provides the foundational account: “Paramore is an American rock band formed in Franklin, Tennessee, in 2004. Since 2017, the band’s lineup has included lead vocalist Hayley Williams, lead guitarist Taylor York, and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of the group.”
The origin story behind the Paramore meaning‘s band name connects to a specific moment in the group’s early formation. Wikipedia: “In 2002, at age 13, vocalist Hayley Williams moved from her hometown Meridian, Mississippi, to Franklin, Tennessee, where she met brothers Josh Farro and Zac Farro at a weekly supplemental program for home-schooled students.” The band that would carry the Paramore meaning was officially formed in 2004 with Josh Farro (lead guitar), Zac Farro (drums), Jeremy Davis (bass), and Williams (lead vocals). Wikipedia notes the early challenges: “The other members of what was soon to be Paramore had been ‘edgy about the whole female thing’ of having Williams as vocalist, but, because they were good friends, she started writing for them.”
The signing story adds context to the Paramore meaning‘s early development: “Williams was originally signed to Atlantic Records as a solo artist in 2003. They were the only label to let her stay in the band instead of going solo, but Atlantic said the rest of the band had to sign to Fueled by Ramen.” This arrangement — Williams signed to Atlantic, the rest of the band to Fueled by Ramen — was unusual in the industry and reflects the particular circumstances of the Paramore meaning‘s band’s formation. Jeremy Davis’s account of their first rehearsal captures the energy: “I remember thinking, ‘This is not going to work because this kid is way too young,’ but that first day of practice was amazing. I knew we were on to something.”
9. Paramore – Hayley Williams and the Sound
The defining voice of the Paramore meaning‘s band is Hayley Williams — one of the most distinctive and most recognised vocalists in contemporary rock music, whose extraordinary vocal range, emotional intensity, and distinctive visual presence have made her one of the most iconic figures in alternative rock of the 2000s and 2010s. Wikipedia describes her early development: “Shortly after arriving [in Franklin], she began taking vocal lessons with Brett Manning.” Williams’s vocal training and her natural talent combined to produce the sound that would define the Paramore meaning‘s musical identity.
The Paramore meaning‘s band’s sound blends pop-punk, alternative rock, post-hardcore, and pop in a way that gives their music broad accessibility while maintaining genuine rock credibility. Their debut album “All We Know Is Falling” (2005) established the template, while their breakthrough “Riot!” (2007) brought them mainstream success. Wikipedia: “The band’s second album, Riot! (2007) became a mainstream success thanks to the success of the singles ‘Misery Business,’ ‘Crushcrushcrush,’ and ‘That’s What You Get.'” These singles — particularly “Misery Business” with its explosive opening and Williams’s dynamic vocal performance — established the Paramore meaning‘s band as one of the most exciting acts in contemporary rock.
Williams’s own description of why the members of the Paramore meaning‘s band felt like the right people: “They were the first people I met who were as passionate about music as I was.” This mutual passion — the same quality of love-through-music that the word paramour implies in the romantic domain — captures something essential about the Paramore meaning‘s band’s identity: a group united by genuine, passionate commitment to their craft.
10. Paramore – Albums and Musical Legacy
The musical legacy of the Paramore meaning‘s band spans six studio albums across two decades, each representing a different phase of the band’s artistic development. Wikipedia documents the album trajectory: “All We Know Is Falling” (2005) — debut, establishing their sound; “Riot!” (2007) — breakthrough mainstream success; “Brand New Eyes” (2009) — critically acclaimed follow-up; “Paramore” (2013) — self-titled, chart-topping album; and later releases continuing the band’s evolution.
The self-titled “Paramore” album (2013) represents one of the high points of the Paramore meaning‘s band’s commercial success. Wikipedia: “Paramore was officially released on April 5, 2013, and a number one at US albums chart Billboard 200. The album’s fourth single, ‘Ain’t It Fun,’ was released on February 4, 2014, eventually becoming the band’s highest-charting song in the United States and a winner for Best Rock Song at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.” The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song confirmed the Paramore meaning‘s band’s position at the very top of contemporary rock music.
Wikipedia documents the recording process for “Brand New Eyes” (2009): “Paramore spent six weeks in pre-production at Emac Studios in their hometown of Franklin, the first time they had undergone pre-production without the guidance of a producer. The band was visited by record producer Rob Cavallo who reassured the band that they were on the right track.” The Paramore meaning‘s band’s willingness to take creative risks — recording without producer guidance for the first time — reflects the same quality of passionate self-determination that the word paramour implies in the romantic domain.
11. Paramore Meaning in Modern Usage
In contemporary usage, the Paramore meaning operates across at least three distinct registers: as the band name, as a literary or formal word for a secret lover, and as an occasional creative or poetic alternative to more common words for beloved or lover. Merriam-Webster’s 2026 examples show paramour still actively used in journalism: “In a wry comment on the hazards of fame, Carpenter and fans are seen in the last seconds of the ad eating the remains of the potato-chip paramour.” “Cut to a massive stadium packed with fans, and Pepsi logos, and a hilarious re-creation of the Coldplay kiss-cam fiasco as the male bear hugs his pop paramour from behind.”
These 2026 journalism examples show paramour — the Paramore meaning‘s parent word — being used in entertainment journalism in a playfully elevated register: “pop paramour,” “potato-chip paramour.” This usage reflects the word’s current status as a slightly archaic but still viable literary term that carries romantic and slightly ironic connotations when deployed in contemporary writing. Merriam-Webster notes that paramour “came to English from French (a language based on Latin), though the modern French don’t use the word” — confirming that the word is an English retention of a French phrase that French itself has abandoned.
Dictionary.com captures the archaic literary dimension: “an archaic word for beloved.” This designation as archaic situates the Paramore meaning‘s parent word in the same category as other beautiful but infrequently used romantic vocabulary — words like “beloved,” “swain,” “sweetheart,” and “inamorata” — that carry the flavour of older literary tradition and are now used primarily in formal, poetic, or deliberately elevated contexts rather than everyday speech.
12. Pronunciation – Paramore vs Paramour
The Paramore meaning‘s two forms — the band name “Paramore” and the word “paramour” — are homophones: they sound identical despite being spelled differently. OED documents the pronunciation of paramour: “/ˈparəmʊə/ PARR-uh-moor” or “/ˈparmɔː/ PARR-uh-mor” — a three-syllable word with stress on the first syllable. The Paramore meaning‘s band name is pronounced the same way, which is precisely why the band chose to retain the name when they discovered the homophone’s meaning.
The homophone relationship between Paramore and paramour is the linguistic foundation of the Paramore meaning‘s entire dual character — the fact that a real surname happened to sound exactly like a literary word for secret lover is what gave the band’s name its particular resonance. Wikipedia documents this: “Once the group learned the meaning of the homophone paramour (‘secret lover’), they decided to adopt the name, using the Paramore spelling.” The band’s choice to use the “Paramore” spelling rather than the “paramour” spelling allows them to maintain both the personal connection to the original surname and the resonant echo of the word.
13. Paramore Meaning in Pop Culture
The Paramore meaning‘s band has become one of the defining acts of early 21st-century alternative rock, their music forming part of the soundtrack to a generation’s adolescence and young adulthood. Their influence on pop-punk, emo, and alternative rock has been widely documented, and Hayley Williams has become one of the most recognisable figures in contemporary music — a position that gives the Paramore meaning‘s name significant cultural resonance beyond the word’s literary history.
Merriam-Webster’s 2026 contemporary journalism mentions of paramour — in film reviews, advertising analysis, and entertainment reporting — show the parent word of the Paramore meaning continuing to circulate in elevated journalistic prose. “During the course of the film, Grace deals with life, love (including a pair of paramours from the same band), professional disappointments.” This film-review context shows paramour being used to describe romantic partners in a way that lends the relationship a slightly literary, slightly transgressive quality — exactly the register the Paramore meaning‘s band name taps into.
14. Synonyms and Related Words for Paramour
The synonyms for paramour — the word behind the Paramore meaning — range from formal to casual, from archaic to contemporary. Merriam-Webster’s thesaurus synonyms include: lover, mistress, beloved, sweetheart, inamorata, inamorato, flame, fancy. Dictionary.com: Collins English Dictionary gives “an archaic word for beloved.” Cambridge Dictionary: “the person you are having a romantic or sexual relationship with, but are not married to” — with synonyms including lover and mistress.
For the specifically illicit or secret dimension of the Paramore meaning‘s word, more specific synonyms include: mistress (female), kept woman, other woman/man, secret lover, clandestine lover, and affair partner. For the more romantic and literary sense: beloved, darling, sweetheart, inamorata/inamorato, and flame. Vocabulary.com notes the related vocabulary family: “14 words derived from the Latin root amor and Greek root phil” — including amorous, enamoured, and amour — all sharing the same root as the “amour” in “par amour” that gives paramour its meaning.
15. Why the Paramore Meaning Endures
The Paramore meaning endures — both as a band name and as a literary word — because it captures something about passionate love that more ordinary vocabulary cannot: the specific quality of love that operates “through love alone,” without the sanction of social convention or legal institution, driven purely by passion and connection. Merriam-Webster: “par amour meant ‘through love’ — it implies a relationship based solely on love, often physical love, rather than on social custom or ceremony.”
This quality — love defined by its own force rather than by external validation — is precisely what makes the Paramore meaning‘s word so resonant as a band name for a group whose music is itself driven by emotional intensity, passionate performance, and a refusal to conform to mainstream expectations. The band that chose a name echoing paramour is one that has consistently prioritised authenticity and genuine emotional expression over commercial calculation — a musical “through love” rather than a “through convention.”
Vocabulary.com’s note about the word’s extraordinary semantic journey captures why the Paramore meaning endures: a word that once described the love of Christ and the Virgin Mary and eventually came to describe the most earthly and most transgressive of human passions has proven itself capable of carrying the full weight of human love in all its dimensions. The Paramore meaning — both the band and the word — endures because love in its most passionate, most genuine, most convention-defying form is one of the most universal and most enduring of human experiences.
FAQs About Paramore Meaning
Q1. What does Paramore mean?
The Paramore meaning covers two senses: (1) the name of an American rock band formed in Franklin, Tennessee in 2004, fronted by Hayley Williams; (2) a variant spelling/homophone of “paramour” — meaning a secret or illicit lover, derived from Old French “par amour” meaning “through love.” The band chose the name from a real surname but retained it after discovering it sounded like the word for secret lover.
Q2. Why is the band called Paramore?
Wikipedia documents: the Paramore meaning‘s band name “came from the maiden name of the mother of one of their first bass players. Once the group learned the meaning of the homophone paramour (‘secret lover’), they decided to adopt the name, using the Paramore spelling.” The name was originally a surname, but the band kept it because of its resonance with the romantic word.
Q3. What does paramour mean?
Paramour — the word echoed by the Paramore meaning‘s band name — means a secret or illicit lover. Merriam-Webster: “lover; specifically: an illicit or secret lover.” Cambridge: “the person you are having a romantic or sexual relationship with, but are not married to.” It derives from Old French “par amour” meaning “through love” or “by love.”
Q4. What is the etymology of paramour?
The Paramore meaning‘s parent word paramour derives from Old French “par amour” — “par” (by, through, from Latin “per”) + “amour” (love, from Latin “amor”). Earliest English use dates to before 1375. It originally included both sacred meanings (love of Christ, the Virgin Mary) and secular romantic meanings, eventually narrowing to specifically illicit or secret lovers.
Q5. What are Paramore’s most famous songs?
The Paramore meaning‘s band is best known for “Misery Business” (2007), “That’s What You Get” (2007), “Crushcrushcrush” (2007), “The Only Exception” (2009), “Still Into You” (2013), and “Ain’t It Fun” (2014) — which won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, becoming the band’s highest-charting US single.
Conclusion
The Paramore meaning is one of the most layered and most resonant in contemporary popular culture — a name that connects a multi-platinum Grammy-winning rock band to a seven-century-old word for passionate, convention-defying love, all through the happy accident of a surname that happened to sound like “paramour.” Whether the Paramore meaning is encountered in the context of Hayley Williams’s extraordinary vocal performances, in a literary novel using paramour to describe a secret affair, in a film review noting a character’s illicit romantic entanglements, or in the medieval poetry where the word first captured the full force of love “through love alone” — it always points toward the same essential human experience: love in its most passionate, most genuine, most purely itself form, driven by connection rather than convention, by feeling rather than form, by the simple and absolute fact of caring deeply for another person.