Girl · Old English
Æthelthryth
Say it: ATH-el-thrith
Meaning
From Old English æthel 'noble' and thryth 'strength, power'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Through the saint's popular cult it was shortened to Audrey, and cheap goods sold at her Ely fair gave English the word 'tawdry' (from 'St Audrey').
Its wave through time
No birth counts are recorded for this name in the records loaded here: it has been given to fewer than five babies a year, or not at all, since records began.
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Audrey, Etheldreda, Awdry
Famous bearers
- St Æthelthryth (Etheldreda), abbess of Ely
- Audrey Hepburn, actress
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Anglo-Saxon charters, chronicles and church records
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.