BONNIE COLVILLE

Originally an affectionate nickname from the Scottish word bonnie ‘fine, attractive, pretty’. However, it was not until recently used as a given name in Scotland. Its popularity may be attributed to the character of Scarlett O'Hara's infant daughter Bonnie in the film Gone with the Wind (1939), based on Margaret Mitchell's novel of the same name. (Bonnie's name was really Eugenie Victoria, but she had ‘eyes as blue as the bonnie blue flag’.) A famous American bearer was Bonnie Parker, accomplice of the bank robber Clyde Barrow; their life together was the subject of the film Bonnie and Clyde (1967). The name enjoyed a vogue in the second part of the 20th century, and has also been used as a pet form of Bonita.

Scottish (of Norman origin): habitational name from Colleville in Seine-Maritime, France, named with the Scandinavian personal name Koli (see Cole 2) + Old French ville ‘settlement’, ‘village’.