CECILIA LAPLANTE

From the Latin name Caecilia, feminine form of Caecilius (see Cecil). This was a good deal more common than the masculine form, largely due to the fame of the 2nd- or 3rd-century virgin martyr whose name is still mentioned daily in the Roman Catholic Canon of the Mass. She is regarded as the patron saint of music and has inspired works such as Purcell's ‘Ode on St Cecilia's Day’, although the reasons for this association are not clear.

French (mainly Poitou), and French Canadian: topographic name for someone who lived by a nursery or plantation (often one planted with vines), from French plant ‘(nursery) plantation (of trees, bushes)’; or a habitational name from places in Loire and Vienne called La Plante.