Cordelia is a feminine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a ...

. It was borne by the

tragic heroine A tragic hero is the protagonist of a tragedy. In his '' Poetics'', Aristotle records the descriptions of the tragic hero to the playwright and strictly defines the place that the tragic hero must play and the kind of man he must be. Aristotle ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane ...

'' (1606), a character based on the legendary queen

Cordelia Cordelia is a feminine given name. It was borne by the tragic heroine of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'' (1606), a character based on the List of legendary kings of Britain, legendary queen Cordelia of Britain, Cordelia. The name is of uncertain origi ...

. The name is of uncertain origin. It is popularly associated with

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

'' cor'' ( genitive '' cordis'') "

heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to t ...

", and has also been linked with the Welsh name

Creiddylad Creiddylad (also known as ''Creirddylad'', ''Creurdilad'', ''Creudylad'' or ''Kreiddylat''), daughter of King Lludd, is a minor character in the early medieval Welsh Arthurian tale ''Culhwch ac Olwen''. Role in Welsh tradition Creiddylad, dau ...

, allegedly meaning "jewel of the sea", but it may derive from the French ''coeur de lion'' "heart of a lion".

Real people with the name

Cordelia Botkin Cordelia Botkin (1854 – March 7, 1910) was an American murderer who sent a box of poisoned candy to her ex-lover's wife. This was the first American prosecution for a crime which took place in two different jurisdictions, as Botkin had sent the ...

, American murderer *

Cordelia of Britain Queen Cordelia (or Cordeilla) was a legendary Queen of the Britons, as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. She was the youngest daughter of Leir and the second ruling queen of pre-Roman Britain. There is no independent historical evidence for her ...

legendary Legendary may refer to: * Legend, a folklore genre * Legendary (hagiography) ** Anjou Legendarium * J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium Film and television * ''Legendary'' (film), a 2010 American sports drama film * ''Legendary'', a 2013 film fea ...

queen of the Britons, youngest daughter of

King Leir ''King Leir'' is an anonymous Elizabethan play about the life of the ancient Brythonic king Leir of Britain. It was published in 1605 but was entered into the Stationers' Register on 15 May 1594. The play has attracted critical attention princi ...

Cordelia Bugeja Cordelia Bugeja (born 5 March 1976 in Chichester, West Sussex) is a British actress, best known for her roles as Julie in ''Not Going Out'', Nikki in ''EastEnders'', Melanie Hart in ''Family Affairs'', and sex worker Kate in '' Respectable''. ...

, British actress *

Cordelia Cameron Cordelia Cameron (d. ''after'' 1844), was an Australian stage actor and theatre manager. She was the first woman theater manager in Australia. Life Cordelia Cameron was married to her colleague, the actor-manager Samson Cameron, and managed a t ...

, Australian actor-mananger *Cordelia de Castellane, French designer *

Cordelia Throop Cole Cordelia Throop Cole (, Throop; November 17, 1833 – April 29, 1900) was a 19th-century American social reformer, who lectured, wrote, and edited on behalf the temperance crusade and social purity movement. She made valuable contributions with h ...

(1833–1900), American social reformer *

Cordelia Fine Cordelia Fine (born 1975) is a Canadian-born British philosopher of science, psychologist and writer. She is a full professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Fine has written three popular scienc ...

, British academic psychologist and writer * Cordelia Agnes Greene, 19th-century physician, philanthropist and suffragist from Upstate New York *

Cordelia Harvey Cordelia Adelaide Harvey (1824-1895) is most well known for her advocacy for Wisconsin Union soldiers as an American Civil War nurse. Following her involvement in the war, she took on the challenge of finding homes for children of fallen soldiers. ...

, First Lady of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Louis Harvey, known for founding

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Orphans homes and advocating for war

field hospital A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile A ...

conditions *Cordelia Hawkins,

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

of the U.S. town of Cordele,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

* Cordelia James, Baroness James of Rusholme, British educator and justice of the peace *Cordelia Knott, wife of

Walter Knott Walter Marvin Knott (December 11, 1889 – December 3, 1981) was an American farmer who created the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in California, introduced the Boysenberry, and made Knott's Berry Farm boysenberry preserves. Early life On D ...

and foundress of Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant at

Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park located in Buena Park, California, owned and operated by Cedar Fair. In 2015, it was the twelfth-most-visited theme park in North America and averages approximately 4 million visitors per year. It features 40 ...

Cordelia Scaife May Cordelia Scaife May (September 24, 1928 – January 26, 2005) was a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-area political donor and philanthropist. An heiress to the Mellon-Scaife family fortune, she was one of the wealthiest women in the United States. Her p ...

, philanthropist * Cordelia Urueta Sierra 1908-1995 Mexican Artist She has been called the “Grande Dame of Abstract Art *

Cordelia Mendoza The Ocean Beach Antique District is a specialty shopping district located in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is a few miles northwest of Downtown San Diego. Description Located on the community's main street, Newport Av ...

, American antiquarian and appraiser *

Cordelia Strube Cordelia Strube is a Canadian playwright and novelist. Raised in Montreal, Quebec, Strube began her career as an actor. After winning a CBC Literary Award for her first radio play, ''Mortal'', she wrote nine more radio plays for CBC Radio before ...

, Canadian playwright and novelist * Cordelia Wilson, painter of New Mexico and American Southwest landscapes

Fictional characters with the name

*A supposed anglicization of ''

'', the name of a character in

Welsh mythology Welsh mythology (Welsh: ''Mytholeg Cymru'') consists of both folk traditions developed in Wales, and traditions developed by the Celtic Britons elsewhere before the end of the first millennium. As in most of the predominantly oral societies Celti ...

.Doubt has been cast on the linking of these two names, beyond "the string of consonants C-R-D-L
Sara L. Uckelman, "Concerning the name Cordelia"
/ref> *

Cordelia (King Lear) Cordelia is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's tragic play ''King Lear''. Cordelia is the youngest of King Lear's three daughters, and his favourite. After her elderly father offers her the opportunity to profess her love to him in r ...

, a central character in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's tragic play ''

'', based on the story of

. *Cordelia, the main character of the eponymous Dutch adult comic strip by Belgian cartoonist "ILAH" Inge Heremans. *Cordelia, character in

James Lapine James Elliot Lapine (born January 10, 1949) is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for ''Into the Woods'', '' Falsettos'', and '' Passion''. He ...

and

William Finn William Alan Finn (born February 28, 1952) is an American composer and lyricist. He is best known for his musicals, which include '' Falsettos'', for which he won the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical, ''A New B ...

's 1990 off-Broadway musical

Falsettoland ''Falsettoland'' is a musical with a book by James Lapine and music and lyrics by William Finn. Following '' In Trousers'' and '' March of the Falsettos'', it is the third in a trio of one-act musicals centering on Marvin, his wife Trina, his p ...

and later its two Broadway revivals, renamed

Falsettos ''Falsettos'' is a sung-through musical with a book by William Finn and James Lapine, and music and lyrics by Finn. The musical consists of '' March of the Falsettos'' (1981) and '' Falsettoland'' (1990), the last two installments in a trio o ...

. *Cordelia, humble and supremely talented, the sole survivor of Ylisse's pegasus knights in

Fire Emblem Awakening ''Fire Emblem Awakening'' is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in April 2012 in Japan and 2013 internationally. It is the thirteenth ...

. *Cordelia Frost, character in MARVEL's "

Emma Frost Emma Grace Frost is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. The character first appeared in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #129 (Jan. 1980), and was ...

" comics, Emma's sister.

Anime

* Cordelia Capulet, Japanese anime character in "

Romeo x Juliet Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Lord Montague and his wife, Lady Montague, he secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet, through a priest ...

". *

Cordelia Gallo is a Japanese light novel series written by Kazuki Sakuraba, with illustrations by Hinata Takeda. The series includes 13 novels published by Fujimi Shobo between December 2003 and July 2011. Set in a fictional European country in 1924, a ...

, Japanese anime character in "

Gosick is a Japanese light novel series written by Kazuki Sakuraba, with illustrations by Hinata Takeda. The series includes 13 novels published by Fujimi Shobo between December 2003 and July 2011. Set in a fictional European country in 1924, ...

". * Cordelia Glauca, Japanese anime character in ''

Tantei Opera Milky Holmes is a media franchise owned by the Japanese trading card game company Bushiroad. The first release was an Internet radio drama, released in December 2009. An anime adaptation by J.C.Staff aired between October and December 2010, with ...

''. *Cordelia, Japanese anime character in ''

Diabolik Lovers is a Japanese visual novel franchise by Rejet. Its first entry was released on October 11, 2012 for the PlayStation Portable system. Thus far, the franchise has released seven games with the first two having been remastered for the Pla ...

''.

Films and television shows

* Cordelia Abbott, in the television

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

The Young and The Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, ...

''. *

Cordelia Chase Cordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer''; she also appeared on ''Buffy's'' spin-off series, ''Angel''. Portrayed by Charisma Carpenter, the character appears as a ser ...

, character in the television series '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and ''

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...

''. *Cordelia is a 1980 Québec movie starring Louise Portal about real life Cordelia Corriveau, who was hanged in 1763 in Saint-Vallier, Québec, after being condemned for murdering her husband. She was after her death exposed in an iron cage at a crossroad. *

Cordelia Foxx The third season of the American horror anthology television series ''American Horror Story'', subtitled ''Coven'', is set in 2013 New Orleans and follows a coven of witches descended from Salem as they fight for survival, and features flash ...

, character in '' American Horror Story: Coven''. * Cordelia Winthrop Scott, from the 2011 film

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

, played by

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...

. *Cordelia Thornberry, a character in the Wild Thornberrys, wife of Radcliffe Thornberry, mother of Nigel Thornberry, mother-in-law of Marianne Thornberry, and paternal grandmother of Debbie, Eliza, and Donnie.

Literature

*In Kierkegaard’s

Either/Or ''Either/Or'' ( Danish: ''Enten – Eller'') is the first published work of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Appearing in two volumes in 1843 under the pseudonymous editorship of ''Victor Eremita'' (Latin for "victorious hermit"), it ...

in the section of

Diary of a Seducer ''Either/Or'' (Danish language, Danish: ''Enten – Eller'') is the first published work of the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. Appearing in two volumes in 1843 under the pseudonymous editorship of ''Victor Eremita'' (Latin for "victorio ...

. *In Anne of Green Gables, Anne requests that she be called Cordelia rather than Anne when she believes she will only be staying with the Cuthberts for one night. *Cordelia Blake, titular character of the

Winston Graham Winston Mawdsley Graham OBE, born Winston Grime (30 June 1908 – 10 July 2003), was an English novelist best known for the Poldark series of historical novels set in Cornwall, though he also wrote numerous other works, including contemporary ...

novel ''Cordelia'' (published in 1949). * Cordelia Flakk, character in Jasper Fforde's ''

Lost in a Good Book ''Lost in a Good Book'' is an alternate history fantasy novel by Jasper Fforde. It won the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association 2004 Dilys Award. It is the second in the Thursday Next series. Synopsis ''Lost in a Good Book'' is the seco ...

''. *Lady Cordelia Flyte, in ''

Brideshead Revisited ''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...

'' (1945) by

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...

. *Cordelia Geard, in

John Cowper Powys John Cowper Powys (; 8 October 187217 June 1963) was an English philosopher, lecturer, novelist, critic and poet born in Shirley, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar of the parish church in 1871–1879. Powys appeared with a volume of verse ...

's novel ''

A Glastonbury Romance ''A Glastonbury Romance'' was written by John Cowper Powys (1873–1963) in rural upstate New York and first published by Simon and Schuster in New York City in March 1932. An English edition published by John Lane followed in 1933. It has ...

'' (1932). *

Cordelia Gray Cordelia Gray is a fictional character created by English author P. D. James. Gray is the protagonist of two novels, ''An Unsuitable Job for a Woman'' and of '' The Skull Beneath the Skin''. Cordelia Gray is a young woman who works as a private d ...

, in two books by

P.D. James Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, (3 August 1920 – 27 November 2014), known professionally as P. D. James, was an English novelist and life peer. Her rise to fame came with her series of detective novels featuring t ...

. * Cordelia Ransom, in the

Honorverse The Honorverse is a military science fiction book series, its two subseries, two prequel series, and anthologies created by David Weber and published by Baen Books. They are centered on the space navy career of the principal protagonist Honor ...

novels by David Weber. *The main character of the short story "Cordelia the Crude" by

Wallace Thurman Wallace Henry Thurman (August 16, 1902 – December 22, 1934) was an American novelist active during the Harlem Renaissance. He also wrote essays, worked as an editor, and was a publisher of short-lived newspapers and literary journals. He is be ...

. * Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan in the

Vorkosigan Saga The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe by American author Lois McMaster Bujold.Lillian Stewart Carl and John Helfers, ''The Vorkosigan Companion'', Baen Books 2008, The first ...

Lois McMaster Bujold Lois McMaster Bujold ( ; born November 2, 1949) is an American speculative fiction writer. She is an acclaimed writer, having won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinlein's record (not counting his Retro Hugos). Her n ...

. *Cordelia Carstairs, protagonist of '' The Last Hours'' series by

Cassandra Clare Judith Lewis (née Rumelt; born July 27, 1973), better known by her pen name Cassandra Clare, is an American author of young adult fiction, best known for her bestselling series ''The Mortal Instruments''.'' Personal life Clare was born Judith ...

Video Games

* Cordelia, playable character in

* Cordelia, final boss in Panel de Pon * Cordelia, youngest daughter of King Regna, in Triangle Strategy

References

{{given name English feminine given names