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Comments and insights on the name Cordelia: | Edit

My name is Cordelia, I've met one or two other ones. However, I think it's a bit more note worthy (for me) to meet a Cordelia then other unusual names. For example, I don't recall ever meeting a person named Penelope which is much more common name. It's also something that immediately becomes the topic of conversation when I'm first introduced to a new person. I have yet to come up with something interesting or satisfying as a response.

My 10-year old daughter has a friend named Cordelia. This is the only Cordelia I have ever met.

Personal experiences with the name Cordelia: | Edit

My 20-month old daughter is named Cordelia, and we get compliments on it all the time. I grew up reading the "Anne" books, and loved that Anne wanted to be named Cordelia. Also, we loved King Lear and Buffy, and just thought that it's a beautiful name!

Nicknames for Cordelia: | Edit

Corrie, Cordy, Cordie, Delia, Dell, Della, Lea, Cora, Coco, Lia,

Meanings and history of the name Cordelia: | Edit

Origin of Cordelia: Latin; Celtic
Meaning of Cordelia: "heart; daughter of the sea"

Cordelia is a moon of Uranus.

2758 Cordelia, an asteroid, named after the Shakespearean character.

There is a genus of butterflies named Cordelia.

Cordelia, the name of King Lear's one sympathetic daughter, has style and substance, and is exactly the kind of old-fashioned, grown-up name that many parents are seeking today.
-(http://nameberry.com/babyname/Cordelia)
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Cordelia is most famously from Shakespeare's KING LEAR. Shakespeare is credited with coining it, and may have based the name Cordelia on Cordeilla, a Celtic name of legend, or Cordula, a late Latin name from Latin "cordis." (behindthename.com)

More history from Sara L. Uckelman's very well-researched article:

Cordelia was the name of one of King Lear's daughters in Shakespeare's play by the same name, which was first performed in 1608. We have found no evidence that any form of this name was used until the end of the 16th century, and all of our examples are English. A similar but probably unrelated saint's name Cordula was used in Germany in the 16th century, but we find no evidence that it was used elsewhere.

There are differing opinions on where Shakespeare got the name.

One hypothesis says that Shakespeare took it from Holinshed's work, published in 1577, where Cordelia appears as a scribal error for the name of a British/Welsh legendary character, Cordeilla. Holinshed in turn apparently found Cordeilla in the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth, composed in the 1130s. This is the earliest we can find this name in Welsh literature. In 14th century genealogies of Welsh legendary figures, the name is mentioned twice: in a table of kings, the name is listed after Llyr (i.e., Lear) and before Cunada (i.e., Cunedda), spelled once as Cordiella and once as Cordoylla.

Another hypothesis argues that Cordelia derives from Cordula, the name of a 4th century saint who was a companion of St. Ursula. Cordula is found in Germany as Kordula and Kordel and was not unpopular in the 16th and 17th century. It may be a diminutive of the Latin cors or cordis "heart." However, some experts disagree on this point, and believe that Cordula and Cordelia are not related . . .

Aside from these literary and legendary uses, we have found only three examples of real people using a form of the name Cordelia before modern times . . . in summary, we find no direct evidence that Cordelia was used by real people prior to Shakespeare's play, but there is evidence that the variant Cordell was a rare name in England in the late 16th century.

http://medievalscotland.org/problem/given/cordelia.shtml

Famous real-life people named Cordelia: | Edit

Dr.Cordelia Agnes Greene, a 19th century physician, philathropist and suffragist from Upstate New York.

Cordelia in song, story & screen: | Edit

One of the daughters in Shakespeare's King Lear is named Cordelia
"Anne" in Anne of Green Gables wished her name was Cordelia.
Cordelia Chase, a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel the Series
Cordelia, Sebastian's youngest sister in the novel Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Cordelia Gray, the detective in PD James' mystery novels and movies
Cordelia is also the title of a novel by Winston Graham, published in 1949.
Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan novels is a soldier, scientist, wife and mother, and generally just a wise and courageous person.