Do you have a Zelie born in 2015?

sanctanomina Real-life naming, , ,

I was just catching up on emails and FB posts and saw that one of you wonderful readers, mama to a Zelie, wondered (in response to my article about Zelie/Zaylee) how many readers welcomed a Zelie/[other spelling] in 2015? There were 50 of them born in America in 2015 and my theory is that many/most of them have some connection to our Sancta Nomina community (either readers of the blog or friends/relatives of readers). Add yourself in the comments if you qualify! 😀

24 thoughts on “Do you have a Zelie born in 2015?”

  8. I read your article about Zélie and it really never occurred to me to doubt Azélie was French for azalea until you mentioned the spelling for azalea in French is different! I read French well enough so I took to French language baby name websites to get to the bottom of the mystery. A few of them claim it is of Greek origin meaning “sec” which is the French word for “dry”. I wasn’t buying it because I looked up the Greek word for dry and it doesn’t sound similar at all. Finally I found a Catholic saint name website in French (no minis.cef.fr) and they claim that Azélie is a development from Zélie and not the other way around! Zélie was originally a nickname for Solènne (also spelled Soline) which was used in honor of a French saint of the same name and means “solemn”. Not sure if this is true but I do know spelling was very malleable before the modern era and Solènne was an ancient saint. In English martyrologies she is sometimes listed as Solina and is believed to have died c. 290 in Chatres, France. It reminds me of similar English saint name developments from the Middle Ages, like how Agnes became Annice, Margaret becane Margery, and Peter became Piers.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • April, this is SO interesting!! The Azelie/azalea connection has baffled and intrigued me for years — I’m so glad you looked into it, as I’m not familiar enough with French to figure it out on my own. The Solènne/Solina/Soline connection is fascinating! I love Solènne, how pretty!

      I’d also seen Zelie given as a variant of Celia/Cèlie (different from Cecilia), which I loved the idea of, but I could never confirm that either.

      Anyway, thank you for digging into this!!

      Like

      Reply

    • I also just read that Solange is a variant of Solèn(n)e! Behindthename says Solange is the “French form of the Late Latin name Sollemnia, which was derived from Latin sollemnis “religious”. This was the name of a French shepherdess who became a saint after she was killed by her master.”

      I love the meaning, but I admit my overwhelming association with Solange is Beyonce’s sister — I’m chuckling at the possibility of a connection between Bey’s sister and St. Zelie!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • Yes! I saw the Solange connection but decided not to mention it because of the famous Solange. Funny to think that the generations before and after ours will probably not have that celeb. association :).

        Liked by 2 people

      • I love Solenne, too! It’s my middle name pick for one of my top three girl names (whoa, that would sound crazy to non-namers). I knew about the Solange connection, but didn’t know there was a famous (infamous?) Solange. So sad. Anyway, I love Zelie as well, so I love the idea of a _____ Solenne, with both St Solange and St Zelie as patronesses.

        Liked by 1 person

      • I love that Solenne is part of your favorite girl name combos! I don’t think (?) that Beyonce’s sister Solange is that big a deal — I think there’s a whole lot of people who know about Beyonce who don’t know about Solange. (Can a younger/hipper person verify that?)

        Like

Leave a comment