Aldonza

Girl · Probably Germanic

Aldonza

Say it: al-DON-thah

Meaning

Uncertain; probably Germanic.

Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.

An ordinary name in late-medieval Castile; by Cervantes' time it sounded homely enough for him to give it to Dulcinea's real self.

Its wave through time

No birth counts are recorded for this name in the records loaded here: it has been given to fewer than five babies a year, or not at all, since records began.

Through the ages

Used by

Spanish Portuguese Catalan

The family of the name

Portuguese	Aldonça
Catalan	Aldonça

Famous bearers

Aldonza Lorenzo, the village girl Don Quixote calls Dulcinea

Names worth a look

ConstantiaGirlLatin constantia 'constancy, steadfastness'.Rome

FlorentiaGirlLatin florentia 'flowering, flourishing'.Rome

CaeciliaGirlFeminine of Caecilius, a Roman family name; ancient writers linked it to caecus 'blind', which is not proven.Rome

UrracaGirlOrigin unknown. It resembles Spanish urraca 'magpie', but whether the name comes from the bird word, from Basque or…Early Medieval · forgotten

BerenguelaGirlFeminine of Berenguer, from Germanic elements usually read as 'bear' and 'spear'.Middle Ages · forgotten

TodaGirlUncertain. Possibly a short form of a longer name such as Teodora, or of Basque origin; no explanation is settled.Early Medieval · forgotten

AltonBoyFrom an English surname and place name, Old English 'old settlement' or 'settlement at a river source'.Victorian · peak 1904 · forgotten

AltaGirlFrom Latin or Spanish alta 'high'; its use as an American given name in the 1800s has no clear source.Victorian · peak 1894 · forgotten

Where this comes from

Medieval Spanish and Portuguese chronicles and charters
Well-known works of literature

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.