[Facts] Merula Silvia
I've just seen this combo, the name of the wife of actor Alec Guinness.
I love Silvia but Merula is weird - has anyone any thoughts on what it means? I see "Turdus Merula" (oh dear!) is the Latin name of the common blackbird.
There are a few girls called Merula on ancestry.com.
"The practice of romantic names has become a very general evil ... many unfortunate beauties, of the names of Clarissa and Eloisa, might have escaped under the less dangerous ... Elizabeth or Deborah" - Isaac D’Israeli
I love Silvia but Merula is weird - has anyone any thoughts on what it means? I see "Turdus Merula" (oh dear!) is the Latin name of the common blackbird.
There are a few girls called Merula on ancestry.com.
"The practice of romantic names has become a very general evil ... many unfortunate beauties, of the names of Clarissa and Eloisa, might have escaped under the less dangerous ... Elizabeth or Deborah" - Isaac D’Israeli
Replies
I've read a biography of Guinness and a couple of his own memoirs, and I'm pretty sure it wa said at some point that her name was indeed meant to be Latin for "blackbird."
Personally I would guess that this is the Latin word for "blackbird" used as a given name, adopted by some learned parents as an alternative for Merle when that French word for "blackbird" first became popular as a female name in England.
Thanks so much. I'm sure you're right.