Given name & surname · also English
Audrey
“noble”·“strength”
Audrey compresses an Old English name meaning “noble strength” into a much shorter form. Its history includes a popular medieval saint, an unexpected connection with the word tawdry, and Shakespeare’s As You Like It.
Original Old EnglishÆðelþryð
Meaning & origin
What it means
The Old English elements mean “noble” and “strength.” The later connection with tawdry concerns the name’s cultural history, not its original meaning.
Where it comes from
Audrey is an English development of the Old English feminine name Æðelþryð, also known in Latinized form as Etheldreda.
How it developed
The name shortens Æðelþryð, built from æðel, “noble,” and þryð, “strength.” A separate word-history developed when Saint Audrey was divided differently in speech, producing tawdry for goods associated with fairs held in her name.
The story
Saint Audrey, or Etheldreda, was widely venerated in the Middle Ages. Lace and other fairground goods associated with her name contributed to the word tawdry, an association that later affected the name’s reputation. Shakespeare used Audrey for Touchstone’s sweetheart in As You Like It.
Audrey through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 308,812
- 2,929 boys · 305,883 girls
- Most popular year
- 2015
- 5,627 babies
- 2025
- 2,919
- #86 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −31%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 2,919 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 86 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 30.9% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 5,613 in 2015. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (387). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 198,826 as a first name in 2020; 259 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Audrey’s family of names
In English usage, Audrey has a diminutive in Audie. Audrey shares a linguistic root with Adeltraud. Audrey has a related form in Audra.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Audrey has relatives in 12 languages. Lines run from its Old English roots to each of them.
Old Englishwhere Audrey comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 28
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Audravariant
- Audrianavariant
- Audrinavariant
- Audiediminutive · English
- Audreevariant
- Audriannavariant
- Audrievariant
- Audrivariant
Show 20 moreShow fewer
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 15
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Audrey
- Audrey HepburnBritish actress (1929–1993)
- Audrey TautouFrench actress (born 1976)
- Audre LordeAmerican writer and feminist activist (1934–1992)
- Audrey AzoulayFrench politician (1972-)
- Audrey TangTaiwanese activist, politician and free software programmerborn 1981
- Audrey NiffeneggerAmerican writer, artist and academic (born 1963)
- Audrey MunsonAmerican artist's model and film actress (1891-1996)
- Audrey TotterAmerican actor (1917-2013)
- Audrey MeadowsAmerican actress (1922–1996)
Characters named Audrey: Audrey Raines (the television series 24), Audrey Horne (Twin Peaks character).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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