Firstname used in USA was Delia, what is that short for?

[AlanR83]

I'm trying to find a record of my Great Grandfather's sister on the 1901 census, I only know her name used after she arrived in America around 1900 was Delia Doyle, but I know Irish people sometimes changed their name to sound more American - like Bridget became Bertha (etc), any idea what Delia could have been when she was living in Ireland. She was born in Wicklow sometime between 1873 - 1890.

[Johnf04]

Women called Bridget were also called Delia - these names were used in my wife's family.

[AlanR83]

Thanks John

[Dyingout]

Delia possibly from Delilah

[pet50ite]

It could have been short for Cordelia, but these days it is just a name in itself.

[Sinann]

That's a wide date range for her birth, I'm guessing you don't know where she came in the family, do you have the parents names, it would be better to find her birth cert first.

[eadaoin]

Bridget is most likely, unless she came from a somewhat wealthy family.
Bedelia, Delia are other forms of Bridget (I've no idea how), according to Patrick Woulfe "Irish names for children" (1923).

[barryd]

I Googled Delia. 12 plus pages of them. USA and other countries.

[Elwyn Soutter]

The 1901 Irish census has 6277 people named Delia. 11 in Co. Wicklow. So the name is pretty common in Ireland. Have you searched for her birth in Ireland under Delia?

Another possibility is that her birth was registered without a forename (common practice at the time). There’s a female Doyle registered in Baltinglass registration district in 1874 and another in Rathdrum in 1881, for example. (Both births were in Wicklow). You would need to check the local baptism records to see if either was named Delia.