Audrey (/ˈɔːdri/) is a feminine given name. It is rarely a masculine given name. Audrey is the Anglo-Norman form of the Anglo-Saxon name Æðelþryð, composed of the elements æðel "noble" and þryð "strength". The Anglo-Norman form of the name was applied to Saint Audrey (died 679), also known by the historical form of her name as Saint Æthelthryth. The same name also survived into the modern period in its Anglo-Saxon form, as Etheldred,[1] e.g. Etheldred Benett (1776–1845).
 | |
| Pronunciation | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female, rarely male |
| Language(s) | English |
| Origin | |
| Language(s) | Old English |
| Word/name | Æðelþryð |
| Derivation | æðel + þryð |
| Meaning | "noble strength" |
| Other names | |
| Related names | Etheldreda, Ethel, Audie, Audra, Audre, Audrea |
In the 17th century, the name of Saint Audrey gave rise to the adjective tawdry "cheap and pretentious; cheaply adorned". The lace necklaces sold to pilgrims to Saint Audrey fell out of fashion in the 17th century, and so tawdry was reinterpreted as meaning cheap or vulgar. As a consequence, use of the name declined, but it was revived in the 19th century. Popularity of the name in the United States peaked in the interbellum period, but it fell below rank 100 in popularity by 1940 and was not frequently given in the later half of the 20th century; Audrey was the 173rd most common name for females in the United States in the 1990 census. Its popularity has again been on the rise since the 2000s, reaching rank 100 in 2002 and rank 41 in 2012. It was also ranked in the top 100 most common names for girls in France, Belgium, and Canada in the 2000s.[2]
People
edit- Audrey Marie Anderson (born 1975), American actress and model
- Audrey Assad (born 1983), American contemporary Christian musician
- Audrey Amiss (born 1933), British artist
- Audrey Azoulay (born 1972), French civil servant and politician
- Audrey Barcio (born 1978), American visual artist
- Audrey Bates (1922–2001), Welsh international in four sports: table tennis, tennis squash and lacrosse
- Audrey Bates (1928-2014), British-American computer programmer
- Audrey Brown (athlete) (1913–2005), British Olympic sprinter
- Audrey Brown (journalist), South African broadcast journalist.
- Audrey Alexandra Brown (1904–1998), Canadian poet
- Audrey Cameron, polymer chemist working at the University of Edinburgh
- Audrey Chapman (1899–1993), American actress
- Audrey De Montigny (born 1985), French-Canadian singer
- Audrey Donnithorne (1922–2020), British missionary and political economist
- Audrey Dufeu-Schubert (born 1980), French politician
- Audrey Dwyer, Canadian actor and playwright
- Audrey Emery (1904–1971), American socialite and wife of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia
- Audrey Fagan, Australian police officer
- Audrey Flack (born 1931), American artist
- Audrey Fleurot (born 1977), French actress
- Audrey Girouard, Canadian computer scientist and professor
- Audrey Gordon, Canadian politician
- Audrey Hannah (born 1982), German-Canadian presenter, singer-songwriter and ballet dancer
- Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993), Belgian-born British actress and fashion model
- Audrey Marie Hilley (1933–1987), American murderer
- Audrey Mika (born 2000), American singer and songwriter
- Audrey Hochberg (1933–2005), New York politician
- Audrey Evelyn Jones (1929–2014), British teacher and women's rights campaigner
- Audrey Kitching (born 1985), American model, fashion designer, and fashion blogger
- Audrey Landers (born 1956), American actress
- Audrey Lawson-Johnston (1915–2001), last survivor of the shipwreck Lusitania
- Audrey Linkenheld (born 1973), French politician
- Audrey Long (1922–2014), American actress
- Audrey Luna, American operatic soprano
- Audrey Maleka, South African politician
- Audrey Malte, a name used to refer to Ethelreda Malte (died 1559), alleged illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII
- Audrey McLaughlin (born 1936), Canadian politician, former leader of the New Democratic Party
- Audrey Meadows (1922–1996), American actress
- Audrey Meaney (born 1931), British archaeologist
- Audrey Mestre (1974–2002), French athlete
- Audrey Morris (1928–2018), American jazz singer
- Audrey Munson (1891–1996), American model and actress
- Audrey Niffenegger (born 1963), American novelist
- Audrey Ong Pei Ling (born 1980), Singaporean criminal and accomplice of British convicted killer Michael McCrea
- Audrey Osborne, Duchess of Leeds, British aristocrat
- Audrey Patterson (1926–1996), American athlete
- Audrey Penn (born 1947), American author
- Audrey Richards (1899–1984), British anthropologist
- Audrey Riley, English cellist and string arranger
- Audrey Spiry (born 1983), French animator, illustrator and comic strip author
- Audrey Stuckes (1923–2006), British material scientist
- Audrey Sutherland (1921–2015), American traveler, kayaker, teacher, and author
- Audrey Tang (born 1981), Taiwanese software programmer
- Audrey Tautou (born 1976), French actress
- Audrey Terras (born 1942), American mathematician
- Audrey Totter (1918–2013), American actress
- Audrey Wasilewski (born 1967), American voice actress
- Audrey Wells (1960–2018), American film director and screenwriter
- Audrey Williamson (1926–2010), British athlete
- Audrey Whitby, American actress
- Audrey White (1927–2014), British model
Fictional characters
edit- Audrey Anderson, in the 2010 film Legion
- Audrey Belrose, a dateable character in the dating simulation video game Huniepop
- Audrey Bourgeois, in the animated series Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir
- Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, in the BBC television sitcom To the Manor Born
- Audrey Fulquard, heroine of The Little Shop of Horrors, and her namesake "Audrey Jr." or "Audrey II"
- Audrey Gordon, played by Heidi Areana in the satirical Australian television cooking series Audrey's Kitchen
- Audrey Griswold, teenage daughter of Clark Griswold in the movie National Lampoon's Vacation.
- Audrey Hanson, in the television series Heroes
- Audrey Hope, on the 2021 Gossip Girl TV series
- Audrey Horne, on the television series Twin Peaks
- Audrey Parker-Nichols, in the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh
- Audrey Raines, in television series 24
- Audrey Reede, in the film Liar Liar
- Audrey Roberts, on the British soap opera Coronation Street
- Audrey Rose, from the novel, Audrey Rose, and its adaptations
- Audrey Rose, character from the 2019 movie Descendants 3
- Audrey Safranek, in the film, Downsizing
- Audrey Turfe, in Ben Jonson's A Tale of a Tub
- Audrey, in the eponymous 1902 novel by Mary Johnston, and its 1916 silent film adaptation
- Audrey, in Shakespeare's As You Like It
- Little Audrey, a cartoon character who was mainly popular during the 1950s and 1960s
- Audrey Sharma, in the 2012 Disney Channel film Radio Rebel
- Audrey Smith Bertha, on Harvey Girls Forever!
- Audrey Hall, from the novel, Lord of Mysteries
- Audrey, who is Ted Wiggins' love interest from the 2012 film, The Lorax
See also
edit- Aubrey (name)
- Audre Lorde (1934–1992), Caribbean-American writer
- Audre Trupin, birth name of Pinny Cooke (1923–2004), New York politician
- Æthelred
- Aldred
Notes
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