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The ild part of the name Exilda would be from German via old French hild meaning battle denoting that the child was a strong fighter or brave probably. I’m not sure what the Ex part of Exilda would mean but I’d look at old German for an origin for that part of the name too but the latter half definitely means battle.

Exilda is a very unusual and interesting name considering it’s predominantly used in the French Canadian community id imagine it was originally a variation of an older Germanic name and used in old French there were lots of similar feminine names ending in ilda in the germanic languages and old French was greatly influenced by German the franks themselves after all coming from what is now Germany originally. I think the ild part of Exilda must have been Hild originally the same as in other Germanic names like Gunhilda and mathilda and Romhilda now both usually anglicised to Matilda and Romilda respectively I’d imagine Exilda went though the same sort of evolution. So yes to sum it up the way it’s spelt and sounds I’d look for an origin in old French and the Teutonic or Germanic language group for an original origin.

Hi, that’s an interesting name. I’m doing genealogy and think you and some others on this thread may be a relative of a line I’m working on.
What are some surnames in your family? Thank you

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AJ

Kara, this is quite a coincidence. Your grandmother is my aunt--my father's older sister. I was wondering about the meaning of the name, too. In the unlikely event that you see this, say hi to the rest of your family for me!

well that is funny and not funny as my mother and grandmother are both Exilda and both old and dead also and it is my first name from them... We are French Canadian born They were born up Sudbury way and I was born in Timmins and moved to Kirkland Lake and now I reside in Burlington, Ontario...so we have something in common I pronounce it as Ex il da I love my name because it is different and I was called Bernice all my life ..my second name and I went by it but have to use Exilda for Ont Health and I use it for all my art and drawing I do. Its the other person I am. LOL Kara Keenan sounds Scottish or Irish. My three siblings were born in Quebec after I was born. Karen you could email me at bernicelangille@hotmail.com I would love to know more about what you might know. Our last are very French also and my mothers being different than mine now. Take care and God Bless you.

my mothers and grandmothers name was Exilda and is my first name on birth certificate...we are French Canadians...mothers family name Pilotte. I am trying to find out where the name originated from../what country?

My mother’s first name was Exilda. She was born in Michigan @ 1922 and died in 2017. Her grandmother’s first name was Exilda, and, in the 1970s my mother (Exilda) did some genealogy investigation and visited a distant relative in northern Quebec by the name of Exilda Marie Chapdelaine.

Hi there;
My name is Exilda. I was born in North Eastern Quebec. Although I have not met anyone with the Exilda as a first name I have come across 2 people who had it as their middle name. I am not sure of the origin, someone told me it was Spanish.

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I have this name because I was very ill when I was born and was not expected to survive. The catholic hospital where I was born had me baptised at the hospital for religious reasons. My mother let the neighbor's child choose my name and Exilda was her second name.

Also sounds a bit like Isolda ?

It's probably one of many recombined element names used by Americans between 1700 and 1950 (they're getting rare). Names like Neoma, Leoma, Teoma; Neola, Leola, Reola; Exie, Ivie, Imie.
It's just ex + ilda (as in Matilda, Hilda etc).

I always firstly get a Latin dictionary when searching for name's meanings... though Latin isn't my strongest side. Names are more often very "mutilated" forms of originally Latin (or whatever language) words. The closest ones I found weren't really suitable for making a name of, as they meant thing like "thin", "poor", "scrubby" or stuff related to banishments. There was one verb: exsilire, having several variations of "to jump" as meanings, and: "to arise", "to originate". Forms of the Latin verb that have a "D" somewhere in their endings, are the so-called gerundium and the gerundivum. The gerundium, forming the noun of a verb ("arising" in this case) cannot end with "-da" though, so only the gerundivum remains. We're talking about the form exsilienda then. As a standalone word, this can mean: "she who needs to be arisen". Well... Kinda makes sense, it's just a little long way from Exsilienda to Exilda... But you never know. Good luck :-)