Cordelia

Cordelia is one spelling over 2 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

• English72%

  youngest daughter in King Lear,

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

  Shakespeare

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• Spanish7.3%

  Probably from Córdula; name from the Holinshed Chronicles, popularized by Shakespeare.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Cordelia, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Aurelia
• Delphine
• Arabella
• Adelaide
• Isadora

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Cordelia is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, El Salvador, Mexico

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Cordélia

• a separate name2 spellings in the group

  Also written Cordélia

• Italian given name2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Italy, San Marino, United Kingdom

  Also written Cordélia

56 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Cordelia is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Name used by Shakespeare for King Lear’s one virtuous daughter. It is not clear where he got it from; it does not seem to have a genuine Celtic origin. It may bea fanciful elaboration of Latin cor ‘heart’ (genitive cordis). CORDELIA CORDULA

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In French, Origine grecque; féminin de Corneille, lié à l'épouse de Pompée et à la fille de Scipion.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In German, ) Kordelia: weibl. Vom., derauf die Gestalt der Cordelia in Shakespeares

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Cordelia Edvardsonb. 1929SEGerman-born Swedish journalist, author and Holocaust survivor
• Cordelia Fineb. 1975AUCanadian-born British psychologist and writer
• Cordelia Bugejab. 1976GBBritish actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

58 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 34 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Cordelia mean, and where does it come from?

Probably from Córdula; name from the Holinshed Chronicles, popularized by Shakespeare. Recorded by Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios.

How do you pronounce Cordelia?

It depends on the language: in English /kɔɹˈdili.ə/ (Wiktionary); in Spanish /koɾˈdelja/ (Wiktionary).

Is Cordelia a male or female name?

Cordelia is a female name. National registers that list it by sex list it as female: United States (Census Bureau, 2020), Brazil (Brasil.IO genero-nomes (IBGE Censo 2010 mirror, CC-BY-SA)) and Norway (SSB).

Which countries have the most people named Cordelia?

Mondonomo estimates about 44 thousand people named Cordelia in Nigeria, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled cordelia. After it come United States, South Africa, United Kingdom and Germany; the country table on this page ranks them.

How common is the name Cordelia?

In the United States, the national register counted 6,668 people named Cordelia in 2020, about 1 in 50 thousand residents.