Evelina

Meaning of Evelina

Evelina, pronounced ev-ə-LEE-nə, traces its etymological lineage to the medieval Latin diminutive Avelina— itself a refinement of the Old French Aveline and ultimately linked to the Germanic root avi, “desired” or “strength,” while simultaneously echoing the life-affirming Hebrew Eve (ḥawwāh, “living”). Introduced to Georgian-era readers through Frances Burney’s influential 1778 novel Evelina, the name accrued associations with genteel manners and intellectual aspiration, an aura it retained as it crossed the Atlantic into Anglo-American naming practice. United States vital-statistics data reveal a long-tail pattern: first appearing in federal tallies of 1880, Evelina has moved largely within the 500–900 range for nearly a century and a half, yet it has exhibited a gentle resurgence in the twenty-first century, climbing from 95 recorded births in 2010 to 243 in 2024 (rank 708). This slow, sustained usage positions Evelina as a historically grounded choice that avoids saturation while offering the phonetic grace of the fashionable -lina ending and the evergreen charm of the Eve/Evelyn family; as such, it appeals to parents seeking a name that is simultaneously classical, literate, and quietly distinctive.