What nationality or ethnic group uses the name?
“What nationality or ethnic group uses the name?”
I haven’t had time to look, yet but if it was African American I would expect there would be thousands with “creative” variants.
In the Maraniss bio Barry was supposedly still dating white women at this time, IIRC.
There is only one comment from a mom with a “blonde haired, blue-eyed” girl at this site:
http://www.babycenter.com/baby-names-saila-222895.htm
bexyjean says
“I named my daughter Saila in 2003. She is 6 now, and everyone says “what a pretty name”. She is blonde haired, blue-eyed. Sometimes people miss pronounce it or misspell it, eventhough it is phonetical, but it is usually not much of a problem. I’m really happy with the name choice.”
Indian name mainly, it seems.
I found one Finnish female Saila...
Translation of Wiki page:
http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saila_Saari
Saila Saare is a “Finnish professional ice hockey player, who plays as a striker. (s)He plays with the Springfield Falcons women’s League team.”
I did a search on Saila “born” 1961 (as a first try to find one about Barry’s age) and found a Swedish Member of Riksdag (parliament), Saila Quicklund. She is blond and blue-eyed, and is VERY easy on the eyes. It might be a while before I can look into whether she was in Chicago in 1988...
http://www.riksdagen.se/en/Members-and-parties/Members/Ledamoter/Quicklund-Saila-0519740099915/
Maybe a FReeper got at pics can put her photo up...
“What nationality or ethnic group uses the name?”
Now that the name appears to be Sheila, the use of this Irish name apparently peaked in 1960, about when Barry was born and when his 1988 girlfriend would have been born...
“Sheila meaning and name origin”
Sheila \she(i)-la\ as a girl’s name is pronounced SHEE-lah. It is of Irish and Gaelic origin, and the meaning of Sheila is “blind”.
Read more at http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Sheila#Sjrgx0jWcHRkBCLG.99