Delia

For other uses, see Delia (disambiguation).

Delia
220px A statue of the Delian-born goddess Artemis, found on the sacred island of Delos
Gender	Feminine
Origin
Meaning	generally "woman from the island of Delos"
Other names
Related names	Delius (masculine equivalent); Adelia, Bedelia, Cordelia, Fidelia, Odelia

Delia is a feminine given name, either taken from an epithet of the Greek moon goddess Artemis or else representing a short form of Adelia, Bedelia, Cordelia or Odelia. Whatever its origin, Delia is not a very popular first name for American women.

Meanings and origins

According to records for the 1901 Irish census, there were 6,260 persons named Delia living that year in all 32 counties of Ireland, with 256 more bearing the full forename Bedelia (plus 59 other persons with the variant spelling Bidelia, and 361 Biddy, 529 Bride and 153984 Bridget). These related names originated as English renderings of the Irish name Brighid (or Bríd) meaning "exalted one", which originally belonged to a pagan fertility goddess (later, to an important medieval saint).

In most cases, however, the name Delia refers to the tiny Greek island of Delos (Ancient Greek: Δῆλος), the birthplace of Artemis and her twin brother Apollo.

Bearers

People

• Delia Bacon, American author
• Delia Derbyshire, British composer
• Delia Ephron, writer
• Delia Gonzalez, American boxer
• Delia Green, reported inspiration for the title character of several traditional American blues songs
• Delia Matache, Romanian pop singer
• Delia Parodi, Argentine politician
• Delia Smith, English cookery writer, responsible for the "Delia effect"
• Delia Selena Castillo,Fight to win, Royce Gracie fighter
• Delia Sunderland, one of the first women sports reporters, actor, novelist (In Adversity, Pull Yourself Up by the Sneaker Laces), screenwriter (Chicanery).

Fictional characters

• Delia Brown, a character on the American TV show Everwood (2002–2006; played by actress Vivien Cardone)
• Delia Banks, a character on the TV show Ghost Whisperer (2005–2010; played by Camryn Manheim)
• Delia (Dilly) Daedalus, younger sister of Stephen Dedalus, mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses
• Delia Deetz, a character from the 1988 movie Beetlejuice (played by Catherine O'Hara)
• Delia Ketchum from Pokémon, the mother of Ash Ketchum.
• Delia Dantes, a character in Tui T. Sutherland and Kari Sutherland's Menagerie book trilogy.
• Delia, the main character in Zora Neal Hurston's short story Sweat.

Other

• dELiA*s, Inc., a direct marketing and retail company targeting young women aged 13 to 19
• Tropical Storm Delia (1973), a tropical storm of the 1973 Atlantic hurricane season