NAME
Rinoa's name is written this way in Japanese: リノア ハーティリー and is read as ri (リ) no (ノ) a (ア) ha-a (ハー) te (ィ) ri-i (リー). Since Rinoa's name is written using Katakana characters (a Japanese way of writing used particularly on borrowed or foreign words), I'm assuming that her name isn't of Japanese etymology. That's not always the case though since there are times that Japanese people use Katakana in their nicknames. But still I'm assuming that since it's almost always the case that foreign names use Katakana. Yunie (owner of The Girl Next Door, another great Rinoa shrine which is currently down) has a good take on Rinoa's name being of Persian origin.
Since the name Rinoa is a somewhat unique name, these are just some names which can be derived from her original name, Rinoa.
RINOA
Rin
This is actually a Japanese name meaning park.
Riona
It's really funny how you can mispell Riona, i mean, Rinoa's name and still come out with
a valid name.
Riona is an irish name meaning royal. It is a variant of the name Rioghnech which came from the the Irish word, Rioghan meaning queen. In Irish legends, Rioghnech was the second wife of King Niall.
Riona is also said to be a form of the name Regina which from the late Latins mean "queen" so like the one above, it also means royalty.
Riona is also another variant of the name Catriona, which is a Gaelic form of Katherine. Katherine, on the other hand is from the Greek name Aikaterine. Etymology of the name is actually debated and is said to be derived from the earlier Greek name, Hekaterine, which came from Hekateros meaning "each of the two". Also said that it could have been derived from the name of the Greek goddess of witchcraft, tombs, demons and the underworld, Hecate. It is also said to be related to the Greek name Aikia meaning "torture".
HEARTILLY
Heartily
Rinoa's surname, Heartilly is derived from the real English word heartily. Heartily is an
adverb meaning in a cordial manner, with warmth and sincerity, with zest or enthusiasm, a word
that describes Rinoa very much.
CARAWAY
Caraway
Caraway is actually an herb native to Europe and Western Asia. The caraway seeds are mainly used
as spice and also used to produce caraway oil. Though the seeds are the mainly used part of the
plant, the entire plant is also edible.
Other than being a plant, Caraway is also a surname. And a well-known Caraway is Hattie Wyatt Caraway, who, in 1932, was appointed to fill the unexpired senate term from Arkansas of her late husband, Thaddeus Caraway. Later that year, she was elected for a full term, becoming the first woman to be elected to the US Senate. In 1944 she was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt to the Federal Employees Compensation Commission.
KABALARIANS
Source: Kabalarians
Your first name of Rinoa has made you happiest when you are expressing in some creative, artistic way, and not conforming to strict routine. In a large group of comparative strangers, you are quiet and rather shy, unable to express yourself, not really wanting to become involved in conversation. On the other hand, among friends with whom you feel at ease, you are expressive, witty, and quite charming. These contrasting natures make it difficult for people to understand you and can lead to friction in your personal life. You are deep, philosophical, and refined, but your extremely sensitive nature causes you to become depressed and self-pitying over any real or imagined slight. If you are not careful, people take advantage of your generous nature. You find the beauties of nature, fine music, art, and literature--all the deeper things of life--inspiring. The reserved, sensitive side of your nature brings aloneness and friction into your life, although you crave affection and understanding. You must guard against emotional excesses, which could result in depletion of energy, creating a desire for quick-energy foods. You could suffer through skin irritations, blood conditions, back trouble, and later, through arthritis. Heart, lung, or bronchial weaknesses could also result.
A short take at Kabalarians' reading: Rinoa is very much an uncommon name and it's really weird how kabalarians ever came up with a meaning for it (To top it all off, meanings of more than thousand names as well..). Anyway, it looks like they took each character for the name and gave readings for it. Something similar to Numerology and Lifepaths. Moving on, looking at the above reading, some points of it may be relevant to Rinoa's personality, some may be total opposites.
First of all, I wouldn't say that she would be happiest when she's expressing in some creative or artistic way. Zone and Watts usually tease her because of her "creativeness". Just look at how she was made fun of just because of the shabby-looking train model that she made during the Timber mission.
Forest Owl's Train - Briefing For The Timber Mission
Selphie: By the way...this model's nice but the president's car looks kinda shabby......Why is that?
Watts: Yeah, Rinoa made it. That's why. We bought everything else at the gift store.
Zell: Uh...I thought some kid made it. The paint job sucks, too.
Squall: (......? Yeah...It kind of does.)
Rinoa: Oh, shut up! I made it look like that on purpose. It represents my hatred towards Deling.
Zell: Hatred, eh...? Yeah...right.
Selphie: It's one of the...ugliest things I've seen in my life. You must really hate him.
Next, quiet and shy? Well, I wouldn't say that she's totally quiet and shy among strangers. Technically, during her first meeting with Squall in the SeeD graduation ball, she was the one that made the first move towards him. But that was Squall. As the story moved on and as we see her interact with other characters, who eventually became her friends, she became much more open with her emotions letting them know what was usually in her mind which proves Kabalarian's point of Rinoa being open among her friends.
One thing that the Kabalarian reading got right is Rinoa's love for literature and fine music. When you give rinoa a tour of balamb garden and bring her to the library, she'll be impressed with it.
Balamb Garden Library
Rinoa: Wow! This is so cool! Mind if I look around?
After that, there would be times when you enter the library without Rinoa in your party, you'll be seeing her in one of the shelves looking at the books.
Balamb Garden Library
Rinoa: The library's taking requests for books right now. Maybe I should put in some requests, too!
Rinoa: ...What kind of books do I want......Hmmmm...
As for the music, during the concert scene in FH, when you chose to play the slower tune, which is really another rendition of Eyes on Me, Rinoa will be a bit pissed that the band, which is composed of Selphie, Zell, Quistis and Irvine, didn't really capture the song that well.
Fisherman's Horizon Concert
Rinoa: I don't get it. What's going on?
Squall: (Huh!? What?)
Squall: (Oh me?)
Squall: Sorry about that.
Squall: So... are we finished here?
Rinoa: What? No I don't mean you. I was talking about the music.
Rinoa: I love this piece and it's been terrible for the last few minutes. Geez, what's wrong with them.
Overall, the Kabalarian reading is a 50/50 take on the personality of Rinoa. 50 percent accurate, and the other 50 percent is a vague and general description.