Evelina

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A female first name of Latin origin, popular in English-speaking countries ; the title of an 1778 epistolary novel by Frances Burney about a young woman entering society
2. A woman's given name with Latin roots ; the heading of a 1778 novel by Fanny Burney that follows a young heroine's introduction to fashionable London
3. A girl's first name of Latin derivation ; the name of a famous 18th-century epistolary novel written by Frances Burney about a naive young woman in high society

Etymology: Evelina is a given name, and its story is literary. It is generally traced to the 1778 novel "Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World" by Frances Burney, published anonymously and an immediate success. Burney took the name from the Italian-sounding heroine she created, and it spread through English usage in the decades that followed, particularly as readers named daughters after the character. The name's ultimate source is uncertain. Scholars have suggested links to Germanic names built on elements meaning "wild" or "boar" or to forms of Eve, but these are conjecture rather than documented history. What is documented is the novel's role: Burney's heroine gave the name its modern currency in English-speaking countries.