Delia Galeni was born Delia Koudelka, oldest daughter of Clement Koudelka and Drou Koudelka. Though not explicitly stated, it is likely that Delia was named after Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, her mother's closest friend. The oldest of the Koudelka daughters, Delia was one of the two "Control Sisters" - i.e. she was a body birth instead of being incubated in a uterine replicator, as the two youngest sisters had been. She was raised in Vorbarr Sultana; Miles Vorkosigan and Ivan Vorpatril considered her and her sisters to be as younger sisters to them; as the tallest of the Koudelkas, she was the one among them that Miles most often took on dates. She married Duv Galeni, and they had at least two children together.