Dorabella

Dorabella is a feminine given name of Italianate form that appears in music, literature, and related cultural contexts. In Mozart’s opera Così fan tutte, Dorabella is the sister of Fiordiligi and a central female character whose affections and loyalties are tested as part of the plot involving disguise and courtship.

The name is also associated with the Dorabella cipher, a famous puzzle connected to the English composer Edward Elgar. In 1897 Elgar sent a letter to a female friend that included a set of mysterious symbols, a message that has become known as the Dorabella cipher. The cipher has drawn extensive interest from cryptographers and puzzle enthusiasts, but despite numerous attempts it has never been conclusively deciphered; its exact encoding method and the underlying plaintext remain unresolved. The nickname for the cipher derives from the addressee named in the original letter.

Beyond these uses, Dorabella remains a relatively rare given name, sometimes encountered in fiction or discussions of classical music. Etymologically, the form likely derives from a combination of Dora or Dorothea with bella, reflecting a stylistic Italianate naming influence, though there is no single authoritative origin.