Although Christiana may be an honest misspelling of Christiania, it should not be mistaken for the name of the city or community by that name. However, there are many other interesting facts connected with this name.
A girl named Christiana
Christiana is the feminine form of Christian, both the name and the adjective. It is used in Latin to correspond to feminine nouns, such as Sapientia Christiana (Christian Wisdom), Magia Christiana (Christian Magic) or even Latina Christiana (Christian Latin).
As a given name it has been used steadily, if infrequently, for girl children throughout the Christian world. It means "Follower of Christ", and is borne by at least two rather obscure Catholic saints.
Firstly, Saint Christiana was a saint of the 4th century. Originally named Nino, this woman called herself the follower of Christ - Christiana. She was an Armenian slave living in the city of T'bilisi in Georgia. Through prayer, she healed a sick baby and later the queen of the country, and so because of her the entire country became Christian.
Today she is the patron saint of Georgia.
The other Saint Christiana was born an Anglo-Saxon in the 7th century. She became a nun in Flanders, and that's all we know, really. Her feast day is July 24, and she is patron of Termonde in Belgium.
Other slightly wellknown Christianas were
Christiana Holmes Tillson, author of the thorough and interesting A Woman's Story of Pioneer Illinois.
Christiana Morgan, the so-called veiled woman of Jung's circle, who through her tragic life and also with her mind helped these psychologists study emotions.
A town like Christiana
Several people have wished to call their home by the beautiful and Christian-sounding name of Christiana.
Christiana, Delaware, has 25,000 inhabitants and is located in New Castle County southeast of Newark. Founded in 1684, it is one of Delaware's oldest settlements. The town became a trading centre because of its situation along the Christina River, but later lost much of its importance with the construction of the railroad and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Recently, the trade has found new footinThis town prides itself with the Christiana Mall, the largest enclosed shopping complex in Delaware.
Christiana, Pennsylvania, is a village in Lancaster County. Its population is about 1,000. It is famous for one thing, the Resistance of 1851. The event happened the year after the declaration of the Fugitive Slave Act. It was a regular battle between slave kidnappers from the South on one side, and slaves who had reached freedom and their helpers on the other. The escapees won the fight, and made the headlines of every American newspaper.
Christiana on Jamaica lies in the parish of Manchester. At an altitude of 1,900 feet it has a mild climate, which made it popular among British settlers.
Around Christiana, crops of banana, ginger and Irish potato are grown.
Christiana in South Africa is a town and a magisterial district in the northwestern part of the country. It was named after the daughter of Transvaal's president in 1870, just as rumours of rich diamond deposits there spread. Although some diamnods can be found in the area, agriculture is more important, with beef, maize, sorghum, groundnuts and cotton being the main products.
So there's a lot to be said about Christiana. But Christiania, it is not.