Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 292

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 292

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/292

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings,

Here is the information we found on the name "Delia."

We didn't find any source for the name "Delia" pronounced "DEE-lee-a" or "DEEL-ya." "Cordelia" is actually not a period name-- it wasn't used by real people until after it was used by Shakespeare in "King Lear."

We didn't find any name that ended with "-delia" either, but we did come up with a hypothetical name that might work. There is a French women's name "Fidelle" which would probably have been written in Latin as "Fidelia" (pronounced "Fee-DAY-lee-a"). (1) It's at least theoretically possible that "Fidelia" could have been an independent French name.

However, this still doesn't get us to "Delia." We have no reason to think that "Fidelia," even if it were used, would be shortened to "Delia." Even if it were, it would be pronounced something like "DAY-lee-a," which is probably not what your client is looking for.

So, the best we can do is to suggest a hypothetical French name "Fidelia." But even this name is pretty tenuous, and your client might be better off looking for another name altogether. There are dozens of names ending in "-lina" and "-lisa," and we have several extensive lists of women's names in our library. You may want to print off some of the lists there and see if she's attracted to another, similar name.

Arval D'Espas Nord, Pedro de Alcazar, and Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel

(1) Dauzat, A. "Diccionnaire de noms et prenoms de France."