March 3 — Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern. If not, then list the most unique or unusual female first name you’ve come across in your family tree.
Amanda Malvina Fitzalan Delzell
Looking at this interesting name the goal was to discover additional genealogical information on the Delzell family.
Amanda Malvina Fitzhallen Delzell was born 16 May 1852, daughter of Sarah Ann Robinson Worthington Clarke and Robert Delzell.
In researching the name I found that is was not a family naming pattern nor a clue to ancestors.
It turns out that Amanda Milvena Fitzallen was a heroine in The Children of the Abbey - an eighteenth century novel by the Irish romantic novelist Regina Maria Roche. The book remained a best seller until the end of the nineteeth century. It was filled with adventure and misfortunes and is set in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England. Jane Austen mentioned the work in her novel, Emma. I interpret the mention as a positive recommendation of the novel.
While it does not provide surname clues it does tell me that her mother was well-read, modern and perhaps a hopeless romantic.