Name of the Week: Fenella

Origin:

Fenella is an anglicised form of the Irish Gaelic name Fionnuala. The Old Irish form was Finnguala, made up of the elements finn "white, fair, blessed" and guala "shoulder," which later became Fionnghuala and Fionnuala.  In Irish legend, Fionnuala is the name of one of the children of Lir who, along with her brothers Fiachra, Conn and Aodh, were turned into swans by their jealous stepmother and cursed to spend three hundred on Lake Derravaragh, three hundred on the Straits of Moyle, and three hundred more on the Isle of Inish Glora. The endings vary according to tradition, but in all versions the children are eventually transformed back into humans (usually thanks to the coming of Christianity to Ireland), age quickly and join their father and mother in heavenly peace.  Fenella has gained the reputation as being a "Scottish" form of Fionnuala, though this is not wholly accurate. Strictly, the spelling Finella was more prevalent in Scotland up until the 1940s, while Fenella dominated in England and Wales, and Finola in Ireland. The attribution of Fenella to Scotland is probably in part thanks to famous Scotsman, Sir Walter Scott, using Fenella for the name of a character in Peveril of the Peak (1823) which did much to popularise the name.

Usage:

According to Ó Corráin and Maguire, Finnguala was an "extremely popular" name in Ireland in the later middle ages; the most popular feminine name after Mór, Sadb and Gormlaith.* Fionnghuala MacDonald "Ineen Dubh" (c.1550-1608), a Scoto-Irish queen of Tyrconnell who ruled in her husband's stead, is a famous example.  It all but died out by the 18th century, but the short form Nuala (which was established in the 13th century) remained in use, as did the anglicised form Finola.  When looking for evidence of Fionnuala in use, the water is somewhat muddied by the standard practice in Ireland and Scotland of rendering Gaelic names into "English" ones. Penelope was used as an English form of Finnuala in Ireland, while Flora was adopted in Scotland.  Fenella itself can be found in 'standalone' use from the 18th century. The majority of the early use of both Fenella and Finella was in Scotland (particularly Caithness), though Fenella was also used in England at this time. Indeed, some of the earliest examples of Fenella that I have come across come from England in the 17th century. Scottish minister and antiquarian Rev. John Jamieson used the name Fenella for his heroine in his 1791 literary ballad Congal and Fenella, set during the reign of Macbeth. His contemporary and friend Sir Walter Scott may have been influenced by this when he used the name Fenella for his longest novel Peveril of the Peak (1823). This was one of Scott's "English" novels, set in Derbyshire, London and the Isle of Man around 1678. The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company used the novel as inspiration for the successful SS Fenella, built in 1881. [A younger sister-ship was named SS Peveril]. The ship was the subject of many newspaper articles in the 1880s, which perhaps explains the small rise in the name in England and Wales in the 1880s.  Of the three main anglicised forms of Fionnuala — Fenella, Finella and Finola — Fenella was the more prevalent form in England and Wales while Finella was more common in Scotland up until the 1940s, as births per decade show:   England and Wales   Scotland   Fenella Finella Finola   Fenella Finella Finola 1840s: 1850s: 1860s: 1870s: 1880s: 1890s: 1900s: 1910s: 1920s: 1930s: 1940s: 1950s: 1960s: 1970s: 2 births 6 births 4 births 17 births 43 births 25 births 23 births 27 births 26 births 36 births 74 births 154 births 312 births 107 births 2 births 0 births 1 birth 2 births 0 births 0 births 0 births 4 births 0 births 4 births 7 births 10 births 6 births 3 births 0 births 0 births 0 births 1 birth 2 births 0 births 3 births 2 births 3 births 8 births 17 births 50 births 91 births 46 births 1860s: 1870s: 1880s: 1890s: 1900s: 1910s: 1920s: 1930s: 1940s: 1950s: 1960s: 1970s: 1980s: 1990s: 2000s: 2 births 2 births 2 births 1 birth 2 births 2 births 2 births 6 births 13 births 11 births 23 births 4 births 6 births 9 births 11 births 0 births 1 births 3 births 8 births 5 births 6 births 5 births 7 births 10 births 3 births 2 births 2 births 1 birth 1 birth 1 birth 0 births 0 births 0 births 0 births 0 births 0 births 0 births 1 birth 1 birth 1 birth 1 birth 1 birth 7 births 2 births 2 births The 1950s saw the name Fenella feature in several novels and newspaper serial romance-novels such as The Master of Machada (1955) by Kathryn Blair in the Dundee Courier and The Strange Story of Pippin Wood (1956) by Irene Byers. Added to this was the fame of actress Fenella Feilding (born. 1927), whose performance in Sandy Wilson's musical version of Valmouth made her a star in the late 1950s.  Enid Blyton used the name Fenella several times in her novels: for her lovable heroine in Come to the Circus! in 1948; for the character Princess Fenella in The Yellow Fairy Book (1936) and Fenella Thornton, Head Girl in the Malory Towers series (1946–1951), all of which saw several reprints and editions from 1950-2000 and perhaps also helped bolster the name's use in England and Wales during its peak in the 1950s and 1960s.  Fenella also featured as the eponymous subject of the "Fenella in ..." children's books by David Gentleman in the late 60s.  For children of the 80s-90s, Fenella had further literary clout in children's fiction from the character Fenella Feverfew in Jill Murphy's Worst Witch series (1974-2007) and Fenella "Fen", one of the principle characters in Ann Bryant's Cafe Club series (1996-98).  From 1997-2016, Fenella has ranked in nine out of 20 years in Scotland, peaking at #793 (3 births) in 2008. In 2015, it was #1584 (1 birth), but it did not rank at all in 2016.  In England and Wales, Fenella was consistently just above and below the top 1000 from 1996 to 2003 with between 17-26 births per year. It has declined moderately since.  In 2016, Fenella ranked #2328 with 11 births in England and Wales.

Famous Bearers:

Contemporary: * Fenella Feilding (born. 1927), British actress.  * Fenella Fudge, BBC Radio newsreader. * Fenella Woolgar (born 1971), British actress. * Fenella Kernebone (born 1976), Australian radio and TV presenter. * Fenella Smith, British illustrator, ceramic and tableware designer and owner of Fenella Smith. Literature and Other Media: * Fenella, heroine of Enid Blyton's Come to the Circus! (1948). * Princess Fenella, a character in Enid Blyton's The Yellow Fairy Book (1936). * Fenella Thornton, Head Girl in Enid Blyton's Malory Towers series (1946–1951). * Fenella, a character in Walter Scott's Peveril of the Peak (1823). * The heroine of Auber's opera La Muette de Portici (1828), who was inspired by Walter Scott's Fenella. * The eponymous subject of the Fenella in ... children's books by David Gentleman. * Fenella Melford, a character in Diana Wynne Jones's The Time of the Ghost (1981).  * Fenella the Kettle Witch, a character from Chorlton and the Wheelies.  * Fenella Feverfew, character in Jill Murphy's Worst Witch series (1974-2007). * Fenella "Fen", one of the principle characters in Ann Bryant's Cafe Club series (1996-98).

Variants:

Finella, Finola

Pronunciation:

fen-EL-ə [key]

Possible  diminutives:

Fen, Fenny, Nell, Ella

Sibling Names:

Merryn     Bronwen     Lorna     Tamsin     Ramona     Bryony  Douglas     Malcolm     Ewart     Angus     Patrick     Philip

Name Lists:

Cosy Celtic   Enid Blyton Names

  

If you like Fenella you may also like:   Fiona, Flora, Juniper, Ferelith, Lowenna, Penelope, Fiorella, Melissa, Belinda, Dinah

Thanks to Amanda for requesting this name.