Delphine

Delphine is a feminine Francophone given name, a form of the Latin Delphina, meaning woman from Delphi, the "Navel of the Earth" or "Womb of Gaia", home of the Pythia, high priestess and oracle of the Temple of Apollo, the then most prestigious and authoritative oracle for the Ancient Greeks, and among the most powerful women of the classical world from 7th century BC until the late 4th century AD.

Thus "Delphine" also means originally "who or which pertains to the oracle" i.e. provider of insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions. In modern language, it also means "who or which pertains to the womb or the dolphin", the Greek sanctuary location taking its own name from the words δελφύς delphús (womb) and δελφίς delphís (dolphin i.e "fish with a womb" which gave the latin delphinus), thanks to an Appollonian myth about Zeus deciding on its location and travelling from Crete to establish it whilst changed into a dolphin, which were also trusted companions and frequent messengers for various gods in mythology.

Notable people with the name (in various spellings) or derivatives include:

Delphine Arnault (born 1975), French businesswoman, director and executive vice president of Louis Vuitton (LVMH Group)

Delphine Arnould de Cool-Fortin (1830-1921), French painter and arts teacher

Delphine Atangana (born 1984), Cameroonian sprinter who specialized in the 100 metres

Delphine Bardin (born 1974), French classical pianist

Delphine Batho (born 1973), French politician

Delphine Bernard (born 1986), former French wheelchair fencer in foil, épée and sabre, now a parasports TV consultant

Delphine Biscaye, French mechanical engineer and designer, former Venturi Formula E Team Manager, now F1 Academy Competition Manager

Delphine Blanc (born 1983), French football player

Princess Delphine of Belgium (born 1968 as Delphine Boël), illegitimate daughter of King Albert II of Belgium and Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps

Delphine Cascarino (born 1997), French professional football player, 5-time UEFA Women's Champions League winner

Delphine Chanéac (born 1978), French actress and DJ

Delphine Claudel (born 1996), French cross-country skier

Delphine Combe (born 1974), French sprinter

Delphine de Custine (1770–1826), French literary and society figure

Delphine Delrue (born 1998), French badminton player

Delphine Depardieu (born 1979), French actress

Delphine Diallo (born 1977), Brooklyn-based French-Senegalese photographer

Delphine Djiraibe (born 1960), Chadian attorney, co-founder of the Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights and the Public Interest Law Center (PILC)

Delphine Ernotte (born 1966), French businesswoman

Delphine Fitz Darby (1902–1995), American art historian

Delphine Galou (born 1977), French-born contralto

Delphine Gény-Stephann (born 1968), French engineer, former Secretary of State under Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire

Delphine Girard (born 1990), Belgian-Canadian screenwriter and film director

Delphine de Girardin (1804–1855), French author under the pen name Vicomte Delaunay

Delphine Gleize (born 1973), French film director and screenwriter

Delphine of Glandèves, (died 1358) a 14th-century nun from Provence

Delphine Hanna (1854–1941), American physical education professor

Delphyne Heymann (born 1966), French biathlete

Delphine Horvilleur (born 1974), prominent French rabbi, co-leader of the Liberal Jewish Movement of France

Delphine Klopfenstein Broggini (born 1976), Swiss politician

Delphine Lannuzel (born 1978), Australian sea ice biogeochemist, professor at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania

Delphine LaLaurie (1787–1849), New Orleans socialite and serial killer

Delphine Lecompte (born 1978), Flemish poet

Delphine Philippe-Lemaître (1798–1863), French historian, archaeologist, botanist

Delphine Levy (1969–2020), French manager of cultural institutions

Delphine Lingemann (born 1972), French politician

Delphine Medjo (1941–2016), Cameroonian politician

Delphine Menant (born 1850-1932), French explorer and ethnologist, daughter of famous orientalist Joachim Menant and pupil of James Darmesteter

Delphine Minoui (born 1974), French-Iranian investigative journalist, social scientist and author

Delphine Neid, a bassist in the band The Nuns

Delphine Nkansa (born 2001), Belgian track and field athlete

Delphine O (born 1985), French-Korean politician and former MP for Paris for Renaissance

Delphine Oggeri (born 1973), French ski mountaineer

Delphine Parrott (1928–2016), British endocrinologist, immunologist, and academic

Delphyne Peretto (born 1982), French biathlete

Delfina Potocka (1807–1877), Polish countess, a friend and muse to artists Frédéric Chopin and Zygmunt Krasiński

Delphine Py-Bilot (born 1979), professional French triathlete

Delphine Red Shirt (born 1957), Native American author and educator

Delphine Seyrig (1932–1990), French actress

Delphine Anderson Squires (1868-1961), American suffragist and journalist

Delphine Ugalde (1829–1910), French soprano, composer and theatre manager, mother of mezzo-soprano Marguerite Ugalde

Delphine de Vigan (born 1966), Award-winning French novelist

Delphine Wespiser (born 1992), Miss Alsace 2011 and Miss France 2012

Delaphine Grace Wyckoff (1906–2001), American microbiologist and educator

Delphine Zanga Tsogo (1935–2020), Cameroonian writer and politician

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