It’s short for Griselda (and also some other Eastern European name I can’t remember). I had an Italian friend thus named who would sometimes get called Zelda by her parents or relatives as an affectionate diminutive… Yet, it is still fairly rare to meet people who were really baptized with that name. Probably only in the US, where the use of absolutely meaningless first names is endemic.

Part of what makes the name so cool, in my extremely disturbed mind, is that
1) it starts with a Z
2) it raises a vidid imagery of quaint medieval tales (don’t ask: even I have given up on understanding my own brain)
and:
3) it was the quintessential Famicon game title.

Ok, I’m kidding about 3) (never had a console as a kid, and discovered other much more interesting pastimes, by the time I ever had the opportunity to play one).

Actually, I think 1) by itself would do it for me. Which is why a nickname cannot do: by essence, nicks are hardly ever written down and do not really have much of a fixed spelling. can’t settle for a substitute here.

Anyway, I can tell you for a thing: very few Zelda’s where I live these days (ゼルダ, perhaps…) I may have to lower my standards for the time being or move to a Latin country.

Beside, regarding the original: she was brilliant and gorgeous (well, they both were), but she was also barking mad… so I fear there might be some baggage attached to the name.

I’ve been hurt by Zelda impostors in the past… cannot let it happen again.

hehe …

*runs away very fast*