Ethel Actress Elsie McKay played
Ethel Newcome in the play
Colonel Newcome . The character inspired greater usage of the name Ethel.
Gender female Word/name Anglo-Saxon Meaning noble
Look up
athel in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Ethel (also æthel Old English word meaning "noble", today often used as a feminine given name .
Etymology and historic usage
The word means æthel "noble".[ 1] [ 2]
It is frequently attested as the first element in Anglo-Saxon names , both masculine and feminine, e.g. Æthelhard , Æthelred , Æthelwulf ; Æthelburg , Æthelflæd , Æthelthryth (Audrey ). It corresponds to the Adel- and Edel- in continental names, such as Adolf (Æthelwulf), Albert (Adalbert), Adelheid (Adelaide), Edeltraut and Edelgard.
Some of the feminine Anglo-Saxon names in Æthel- survived into the modern period (e.g. Etheldred Benett 1776–1845). Ethel was in origin used as a familiar form of such names, but it began to be used as a feminine given name in its own right beginning in the mid-19th century, gaining popularity due to characters so named in novels by W. M. Thackeray (The Newcomes Charlotte Mary Yonge (The Daisy Chain whose heroine Ethel's full name is Etheldred – 1856); the actress Ethel Barrymore – born 1879 – was named after The Newcomes character.
Notes & Queries published correspondence about the name Ethel in 1872 because it was in fashion.[ 3]
The feminine name's popularity peaked in the 1890s. In the United States, it was the 7th most commonly given name for baby girls in the year 1894. Its use gradually declined during the 20th century, falling below rank 100 by 1940, and below rank 1000 in 1976.[ 4]
Ethel was also occasionally used as a masculine given name during the 1880s to 1910s, but never with any frequency (never rising above rank 400, or 0.02% in popularity).[ 4]
People
Ethel D. Allen (1929–1981), the first African-American woman to serve on Philadelphia City CouncilEthel Anderson (1883–1958), Australian poet, essayist, novelist and painterEthel Percy Andrus (1884–1967), educator and founder of AARPEthel Armes (1876–1945), American journalist and historianEthel Armitage (1873–1957), British archer and 1908 Olympic competitorEthel Ayler (1934–2018), American stage and film actressEthel Azama (1934–1984), American jazz and popular singerEthel Barrymore (1879–1959), American stage and screen actressEthel Bentham (1861–1931), English doctor, politician and suffragetteEthel Blondin-Andrew (born 1951), Canadian politician and parliamentarianEthel Booba (born 1976), Filipino comedian, TV personality, singer and authorEthel Branch , American attorney and politicianEthel Cain (born 1998), American singer-songwriterEthel Catherwood (1908–1987), Canadian high jump gold medalist in the 1928 OlympicsEthel Clay Price (1874–1943), American nurse and socialiteEthel Clayton (1882–1966), American silent-film actressEthel Cox (born 1888), British suffragette Ethel Harriet Comyns-Lewer (1861–1946), British ornithologist and periodical editor, publisher and ownerEthel Dovey (1882–1920), American stage actress and singerEthel McGhee Davis (1899–1990), American educator, social worker, and college administratorEthel Roosevelt Derby (1891–1977), younger daughter of U.S. president Theodore RooseveltEthel de Fraine (1879–1918), British botanistEthel Gilbert , American expert in the risks of radiation-induced cancerEthel Hillyer Harris (1859-1931), American authorEthel Hatch (1869–1975), British muse of Lewis CarrollEthel Hays (1892–1989), American cartoonist and illustratorEthel Haythornthwaite (1894–1986), English environmental campaigner and a pioneer of countryside protectionE. Ann Hoefly (1919–2003), American brigadier generalEthel Johnson (athlete) (1908–1964), English sprinterEthel Johnson (wrestler) (1935–2018), American professional wrestlerEthel Kennedy (1928–2024), American widow of Robert F. KennedyEthel Lang (actress) (1902–1995), Australian actressEthel Lang (supercentenarian) (1900–2015), British supercentenarian and the last VictorianEthel Leach (1850 or 1851–1936), British politicianEthel Lote (1920–2024), British World War II nurse and yoga instructorEthel MacDonald (1909–1960), Scottish anarchist, activist and propagandistEthel Merman (1908–1984), American actress and singerEthel Isabel Moody (1905–1941), American mathematicianEthel Moore (1872-1920), American civic, education, and national defense work leaderEthel Rogers Mulvany (1904–1992), Canadian social worker and educatorEthel L. Payne (1911–1991), African-American journalistEthel Rosenberg (1915–1953), American executed for espionageEthel Schwabacher (1903–1984), American abstract expressionist painterEthel Shannon (1898–1951), American silent-film actressEthel Smith (organist) (1902–1996), American organist and recording artistEthel Smyth (1858–1944), English composer and women's-suffrage leaderEthel Teare (1894–1959), American silent-film actressEthel Grey Terry (1882–1931), American silent-film actressEthel L. M. Thorpe (1908–2001), British-Canadian nurseEthel Turner (1872–1958), Australian novelist and children's writerEthel Lilian Voynich (1864–1960), English novelist and musician
Fictional characters
Ethel Ambrewster, a character in the sitcom The Ropers
Ethel Beavers, a character in the sitcom Parks and Recreation
Ethel Blackmore, a character in the webcomic Subnormality
Ethel Hallow, a character in The Worst Witch
Ethel Janowski, a character in the film Criminally Insane
Ethel Mertz , a character in the television program I Love Lucy Ethel Mertz, a character from The Howard Stern Show
Ethel Skinner , a character in the British soap opera EastEnders Ethel Sprocket, a character in the Canadian animated sitcom Ricky Sprocket: Showbiz Boy
Ethel Rogers, a character in Agatha Christie’s novel And Then There Were None
Ethel Thayer, a character in the play On Golden Pond
Big Ethel, a character in Archie Comics
Silvercoat Ethel, a character in Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Auntie Ethel, a character in Baldur's Gate 3
See also
References
^ "Ethel" . Auntyflo.com . Retrieved 24 May 2021 .^ "Ethel" . SheKnows . 22 August 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2021 .^ Withycombe, E. G. (1945) The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names ; 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press; p. 102
^ a b statistics cited after behindthename.com
