Spanish name from Latin 'candela' (candle), honoring the feast of Candlemas (Purification).
Candelaria is one of the great devotional names of the Spanish-speaking Catholic world, rooted in the feast of La Candelaria—Candlemas—celebrated on February 2nd. The liturgical holiday commemorates the Presentation of the infant Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem and the ritual purification of the Virgin Mary forty days after childbirth. Its name comes from the Latin candela, meaning "candle," because the feast is marked by the blessing and procession of candles representing Christ as the light of the world.
Girls born near this feast day were traditionally named Candelaria in honor of it. The name is particularly beloved in Spain, Latin America, and the Canary Islands, where the Virgen de Candelaria is the patron saint and an image of her—a dark-skinned Madonna said to have miraculously appeared to the indigenous Guanche people before the Spanish conquest—is one of the most venerated in the Spanish-speaking world. Across Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina, towns, churches, and parishes bear her name, and countless women have carried it as a mark of Marian devotion.
Candelaria has rarely crossed into English-speaking naming culture in large numbers, which means it retains an undiluted cultural authenticity. In Spanish it shortens naturally to Cande or Candela, the latter of which has grown fashionable on its own in recent years. The full form Candelaria is regal and ceremonial, a name that carries candlelight and centuries of faith.