When Mele Sile Sooa'emalelagi Penuafa was born on 18 April 1874, in Leulumoega, A'ana, Upolu, Samoa, her father, Sile Penuafa, was 52 and her mother, Miliama 'Ilimaleota or Tuala, was 53. She married John Herbert Penn about 1890, in Samoa. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 2 daughters. She died on 12 June 1918, in Samoa, at the age of 44.
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Germany annexes Western Samoa, the U.S. takes over eastern Samoa and Britain withdraws its claim to the islands in accordance with treaty between Germany, Britain and the U.S.
New Zealand occupies Western Samoa during World War I and continues to administer it after the war by virtue of a League of Nations mandate (and a United Nations mandate after World War II).
Probably a contracted form of Meriel , but also associated with the small class of girls' names derived from birds, since it is identical in form with Old French merle ‘blackbird’ (Latin merula). The name came to public notice in the 1930s with the actress Merle Oberon ( 1911–79 , born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson ).
Dictionary of First Names © Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges 1990, 2003, 2006.
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