Sheila

Sheela and Sheila are the Irish-Gaelic forms of Cecilia. Cecilia comes from the Latin Caecilía which is the feminine form of the Old Roman family name Caecilius. Caecilius comes from the Latin word “caecus” which means “blind” and was originally borne as a byname for a Roman plebeian family dating back to the 5th century B.C. The Plebs were free landowning Roman citizens and fell somewhere between the slaves and the elite Patricians. The Caecilius family traced their ancestry to a Roman mythological figure, Caeculus (“little blind boy”), who was a son of Vulcan, god of fire. Legend has it that Caeculus was born of Vulcan’s spark, found on a hearth and raised among shepherds. The boy showed mastery over fire, but the smoke did damage his eyes (hence his moniker: little blind one). Caeculus is also credited as the founder of Praeneste, an ancient city east of Rome. An alternative tradition claimed that the Caecilii were descended from Caecas, who had accompanied Aeneas to Italy after the Greeks sacked Troy. By the 3rd century B.C., a member of the Caecilius family obtained consulship, the highest elected office in the Roman Republic, which brought prominence to the name. The female given name Cecilia was popularized during the Middle Ages, in homage to the 2nd century Saint Cecilia (Latin: Sancta Caecilia). Cecilia refused to worship the Roman gods during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, and was martyred after being tortured, suffocated and finally beheaded. She is the patron saint of music and musicians because as she lay dying she was said to be singing to God. As with many early saints, Cecilia became quite legendary in medieval times and so her name was bestowed upon children as a protective measure. The French brought Cécile to England via the Norman Conquest of 1066 and it eventually landed in Ireland where the name was interpreted as Síle in the Gaelic tongue (pronounced SHEE-la) which eventually became anglicized as Sheila.