Cordelia

Cordelia

Gender	Female
Origin
Meaning	Heart, Daughter of the Sea, Jewel Of The Sea

Cordelia is a common first name in English. It is an elaboration of the word 'cor', which means 'heart' in Latin. In Celtic usages, the name is generally understood to mean 'daughter of the sea' or 'jewel of the sea', due to its association with the mythological Welsh figure of Creiddylad. (Rare) variations include (but are not limited to) Cordollya, Cordula, Cordiella, Cordeilia, Cordell, and Cordele. Historically, in American and European usages the names Adele, Dahlia, Delia and Delilah are sometimes associated with 'Cordelia', and share the common nickname of "Dilly".

"Cordelia" may also refer to:

People

• Queen Cordelia, a legendary queen of the Britons
• The Anglicization of Creiddylad, a female figure from Welsh mythology
• Cordelia de Castellane, a French designer.
• Dr.Cordelia Agnes Greene, a 19th century physician, philathropist and suffragist from Upstate New York.
• Cordelia Hawkins, for whom the town of Cordele, Georgia was named.

In Fiction

• A central character in the play King Lear by William Shakespeare, based on the story of Queen Cordelia of the Britons and her father Leir.
• 'Cordelia', the title of a novel by Winston Graham, published in 1949. The titular character is known by the full name of Cordelia Blake.
• Cordelia Gray, a fictional character in two books by P.D. James.
• Lady Cordelia Flyte, a fictional character in Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.
• The main character of the short story "Cordelia the Crude" by Wallace Thurman
• Cordelia Naismith, a fictional character in the Vorkosigan Saga novels by Lois McMaster Bujold.
• 'Cordelia Underwood' the title and main character of a book by Van Reid, set in Portland, Maine in 1896.
• Cordelia Chase, a fictional character in the cult television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
• Cordelia Flakk, a character from Jasper Fforde's Lost in a Good Book.
• Cordelia Abbott, a fictional character from the television soap opera The Young And The Restless
• In Frank Millers "That Yellow Bastard" a book from the Sin City series, the character Nancy Callahan uses the name Cordelia so she can secretly write letters to her childhood savior and hero Detective John Hartigan.
• Anne Shirley of 'Anne of Green Gables' often wishes her name were Cordilia.

Music

• Cordelia's Dad, a band from Northampton, Massachusetts, USA.
• Cordelia, a Danish musical group
• "Cordelia", a song by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, from their 1991 album Road Apples.
• "Cordelia", a New Orleans-style blues rock song performed by Geoff Muldaur and Maria Muldaur on their 1972 album "Sweet Potatoes".
• "Cordelia", a song performed by Brian Joseph on his album "King of Echo Park". The lyrics contain direct references to the plot of the Shakespearean play "King Lear".
• "Cordelia", a love song featured on Daniel Lemma's R&B album "Meeting at the Building".
• "Cordelia Malone", a popular song recorded in 1904 by Irish American singer Billy Murray.
• "Amelia Cordelia McHugh", a Scottish-themed song performed by The Andrews Sisters and Danny Kaye, detailing the antics and many physical attributes of an attractive, wealthy young woman. In the song's chorus, considerable emphasis is put upon the traditional Gaelic pronunciation of the the long rolling 'r' in 'Cordelia'.

Other Uses

• Cordelia (moon), a moon of Uranus, named after the Shakespearean character.
• 2758 Cordelia, an asteroid, named after the Shakespearean character.
• Cordelia (butterfly), a genus of butterflies.
• Cordelia, California (sometimes referred to as Cordelia Junction), an area of Fairfield, California
• Cordelia, Pennsylvania
• Cordelia, North Dakota
• Cordelia Lutheran Church is a building on the National Register of Historic Places in Latah County, Idaho
• Cordelia, the stage name of Nikki Carlisle, a former stripper and pornographic actress, part of the original Season 2 cast of Oxygen's reality show "The Bad Girls Club"

References

Cordelia Drexel Biddle -- Featured character: The Happiest Millionaire starring Fred MacMurray, Hermione Baddeley, Tommy Steele, John Davidson, Greer Garson. 1969 release, Walt Disney pictures.