I actually first accidentally voided merengue before i even knew she was top 1 tier 1, let alone popular! my sister loved her and i thought she was okay, after a week of no playing she was gone!
I voided a lot of villagers before. I had the Japanese version and just left the game for a long time. Now that I see people who actually want villagers, I just give them away when they are in boxes.
Did you accidently time traveled back to the first of a month? That happened to me twice before, but I didn't lose anyone, I traveled by day.