Short form of names like Odilia, from Germanic 'odal' meaning fatherland or prosperity.
Dilia has two plausible etymological homes, and the ambiguity itself is part of the name's charm. It may derive from Delia, an epithet for Artemis (and her twin Apollo) in Greek mythology, both born on the island of Delos — "Delia" thus meaning simply "she of Delos," carrying the cool, lunar authority of the goddess of the hunt. Roman poets, particularly Tibullus, used "Delia" as a pseudonym for a beloved woman, embedding romantic literary associations into the name's long tail.
Alternatively — and perhaps more directly for its Spanish-language usage — Dilia may connect to the Latin "dilis" or "dilectus," meaning dear, beloved, precious. In that reading it is essentially a name meaning "the cherished one," a sentiment common in Spanish naming culture where affective diminutives and elaborations are built directly into given names rather than reserved for pet names. The name appears with some regularity in Venezuela, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, where it has been carried most visibly by Dilia Betancourt and other public figures who give it a mid-century Latin American grounding.
Dilia's three syllables fall with a gentle, unpretentious rhythm that sits comfortably in both Spanish and English phonologies. It lacks the grand historical profile of a Delia or the mass-market recognition of a Dahlia, but that relative obscurity is increasingly an asset. It reads as genuinely discovered rather than invented, with enough referential depth that curious people will find something real when they ask about it.