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Eulalia & Eulalie (& Euphemia)

Today's name: Eulalia & Eulalie (Eulalie is the variant of Eulalia)
Alternate spellings: Eulalee, Eulaylee, Eulaylie, Eulaylia, Olalla

Pronunciation: Eulalia: yu-LAH-lee-ah or yu-LAY-lee-ah; Eulalie: yu-LAH-lee or yu-LAY-lee

Potential nicknames: Eula, Eulala, Eulie, Eulia, Lala, Lalie, Lalia, Lia, Lila, Leila, Laia, Lily, Lalita, Allie, Ellie

Origin: Old Greek, meaning "well-spoken," although you can say "eloquent" or "articulate" as well. The "well spoken" meaning of this name comes from the Greek eu (well) lalein (speak), translating to "articulate." The Greek baby name Euphemia (pronounced yu-FEE-mee-uh) also means "well-spoken, fair speech." Euphemia's most popular nickname is Effie, which became popular in the 19th century.

Popularity: Surprisingly, there were only 40 baby girls named Eulalia in 2010 in the U.S., and no baby girls born named Eulalie, even though these names are gaining in interest on baby name websites. In 2011 I predicted a slight rise in the amount of births for this name, but it turns out there were only 25 baby girls named Eulalia in 2011, no Eulalie, and 5 Euphemia.

Fun fact: Eulalia was the name of a 4th century virgin martyr Spanish saint, known as the patron saint of Barcelona. Her feast day is February 12, although it is August 22 in the Orthodox Church. After reading about what had been done to this little girl (she was only 12) I think this would be a beautiful way to honor a child who died for her beliefs. If you were to do a little research on Eulalia the saint, you would find out it was said that a dove flew from her body as she died. A middle name meaning "dove" might be perfect. There was also a Saint Eulalia of Merida, Spain, whose story is very similar. Saint Euphemia might be a completely different saint, martyred in Chalcedon. She bravely took her torture as a young girl, and that fact made her famous. Euphemia Ross was another woman, queen of Scotland and wife of Robert II.

Eulalie is also a poem by Edgar Allen Poe.

A woman named Euphemia Allen invented "chopsticks" for piano.

Fun link: Check this out for the names of Eulalia's and Eulalie's born in 1911 in England and Wales
http://britishbabynames.typepad.com/blog/1911-census-eulalia-eulalie.html

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Comments

  1. I find it slightly ironic that a name which means well-spoken is such a tongue twister for me to say. I do find her charming, however.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Is this where the word euphemism comes from or vice versa? Reminds me of Saint Amabilis becoming the name Amable, becoming Amabel, becoming Mabel and obviously also the word amiable. The history of language and names is always so interesting!

    ReplyDelete

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