No biographer has been able to definitely say why Longfellow named the heroine of his famous epic poem the then highly unusual name (at least in French or English) of "Evangeline" rather than the more conventional and common girl names he considered earlier.
The Expulsion of the Acadians was an all around decidedly bad affair and I argue (as I of course would !) that Longfellow was simply attempting to extract what little good, morally, he find in it --- as was his optimistic-in-even-the-face-of-sadness nature.
I believe that Longfellow felt he had found a tiny but morally good news story in the true account of an Acadian woman's post-Expulsion life-long journey of undying love and devotion, complete with a kind of 'happy' ending, as Evangeline reunites with her long-lost love Gabriel, moments before he dies in her arms.
Slightly adapting the original Greek/Latin biblical term for the 'good news' of Christ's eternal salvation into either Evangelin (for boys) or Evangeline (for girls) has long been a name decision made by many Christian parents in many cultures. Their impending little bundles of joy were considered by these happy parents to be very 'good news' indeed.
Perhaps in the end, the equally bible-literate Longfellow simply did the same with his literary 'baby' and since its protagonist was a woman, "Evangeline" it became...
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