Audrey - Origin and Meaning

Origin and Meaning

It has a double etymology : the first element Au-d- in both cases is ultimately from the Anglo-Saxon ethel (also spelled æðel) meaning "noble".

The second element -d-rey can be rǣd, rēd "advice, opinion, happiness", so Æthelred > Aldred, Eldred in Middle-English is a masculine name. The phonetical shift Aldred > Audrey is typical for the Anglo-Norman language, a Langue d'oïl, close related to Old French.

The second element can be thruth (also spelled þryð) "strength", because Saint Æthelthrut(h) is called Saint Audrey too.

Read more about this topic:  Audrey

Famous quotes containing the words origin and/or meaning:

    “The origin of storms is not in clouds,
    our lightning strikes when the earth rises,
    spillways free authentic power:
    dead John Brown’s body walking from a tunnel
    to break the armored and concluded mind.”
    —Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)

    “Wisdom is not just knowing fundamental truths, if these are unconnected with the guidance of life or with a perspective on its meaning. If the deep truths physicists describe about the origin and functioning of the universe have little practical import and do not change our picture of the meaning of the universe and our place within it, then knowing them would not count as wisdom.”
    —Robert Nozick (b. 1938)