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Re: Marilla
in reply to a message by Haven
My baby names book (which is semi-reliable!) lists Marilla as an English elaboration of Mary. Seems about right to me.http://www.justbabynames.com/ reckons it's a variation of Muriel, Celtic, meaning "Shining Sea". A few different sites share this definition.http://www.20000-names.com/ thinks it's a flower name - they don't say it but maybe from Amaryllis?I'm betting on the Mary origin. :-)
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Behind the name, origin, meaning
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There is variey of peony called 'Marilla Beauty' that was introduced in 1940 so that is another possibility for the flower name listing. The naming a new plant is usually an honor given to the breeder. Occasionally they combine the names of the parent plants (a fictional example: Sweet Marilla and Snow Beauty), but more often if a plant contains a woman's name it is named after a loved one. This seems more likely to me because I can't find any other peonies with Marilla as part of a name.
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