Ethel is an Old English word meaning \"noble\", today often used as a feminine given name.

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Ethel (also æthel) is an Old English word meaning \"noble\", today often used as a feminine given name.\n

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Etymology and historic usage

The word comes from the Old English word æthel, meaning \"noble\".\n

It is frequently attested as the first element in Anglo-Saxon names, both masculine and feminine, e.g. Æthelhard, Æthelred, Æthelwulf; Æthelburh, Æthelflæd, Æthelthryth (Audrey). It corresponds to the Adel- and Edel- in continental names, such as Adolf (Æthelwulf), Albert (Adalbert), Adelheid (Adelaide), Edeltraud and Edelgard.\n

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 William Makepeace Thackeray (The Newcomes – 1855) and 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.\n

Notes & Queries published correspondence about the name Ethel in 1872 because it was in fashion.\n

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.\n

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).\n

People

Ethel Afamado (born 1940), Uruguayan composer, poet, guitarist, and singer-songwriter
Ethel D. Allen (1929–1981), the first African-American woman to serve on Philadelphia City Council
Ethel Anderson (1883–1958), Australian poet, essayist, novelist and painter
Ethel Percy Andrus (1884–1967), educator and founder of AARP
Ethel Armes (1876–1945), American journalist and historian
Ethel Armitage (1873–1957), British archer and 1908 Olympic competitor
Ethel Arnold (1865–1930), English journalist and suffrage lecturer
Ethel Ayler (1934–2018), American stage and film actress
Ethel Azama (1934–1984), American jazz and popular singer
Ethel Barrymore (1879–1959), American stage and screen actress
Ethel Bentham (1861–1931), English doctor, politician and suffragette
Ethel Blondin-Andrew (born 1951), Canadian politician and parliamentarian
Ethel Booba (born 1976), Filipino comedian, TV personality, singer and author
Ethel Branch, American attorney and politician
Ethel Cain (born 1998), American singer-songwriter
Ethel Carrick (1872–1952), English Post-Impressionist painter
Ethel Caterham (born 1909), English supercentenarian, oldest British person ever, oldest living person
Ethel Catherwood (1908–1987), Canadian high jump gold medalist in the 1928 Olympics
Ethel Clay Price (1874–1943), American nurse and socialite
Ethel Clayton (1882–1966), American silent-film actress
Ethel Cox (born 1888), British suffragette
Ethel Evans (1866–1929), American impressionist painter
Ethel Harriet Comyns-Lewer (1861–1946), British ornithologist and periodical editor, publisher and owner
Ethel Dovey (1882–1920), American stage actress and singer
Ethel McGhee Davis (1899–1990), American educator, social worker, and college administrator
Ethel Roosevelt Derby (1891–1977), younger daughter of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt
Ethel de Fraine (1879–1918), British botanist
Ethel Gilbert, American expert in the risks of radiation-induced cancer
Ethel Hillyer Harris (1859–1931), American author
Ethel Mary Hartland (1875–1964), Welsh magistrate and activist
Ethel Hatch (1869–1975), British muse of Lewis Carroll
Ethel Hays (1892–1989), American cartoonist and illustrator
Ethel Haythornthwaite (1894–1986), English environmental campaigner and a pioneer of countryside protection
E. Ann Hoefly (1919–2003), American brigadier general
Ethel Johnson (athlete) (1908–1964), English sprinter
Ethel Johnson (wrestler) (1935–2018), American professional wrestler
Ethel Kennedy (1928–2024), American widow of Robert F. Kennedy
Ethel Lang (actress) (1902–1995), Australian actress
Ethel Lang (supercentenarian) (1900–2015), British supercentenarian and the last Victorian
Ethel Leach (1850 or 1851–1936), British politician
Ethel Lote (1920–2024), British World War II nurse and yoga instructor
Ethel MacDonald (1909–1960), Scottish anarchist, activist and propagandist
Ethel Merman (1908–1984), American actress and singer
Ethel Isabel Moody (1905–1941), American mathematician
Ethel Moore (1872–1920), American civic, education, and national defense work leader
Ethel Moustacchi (1933–2016), Egyptian-born French chemist and geneticist
Ethel Rogers Mulvany (1904–1992), Canadian social worker and educator
Ethel L. Payne (1911–1991), African-American journalist
Ethel Pye (1882–1960), British sculptor and jewellery designer
Ethel Rosenberg (1915–1953), American executed for espionage
Ethel Ryan (1886–1971), American politician
Ethel Schwabacher (1903–1984), American abstract expressionist painter
Ethel Shannon (1898–1951), American silent-film actress
Ethel Smith (organist) (1902–1996), American organist and recording artist
Ethel Smyth (1858–1944), English composer and women's-suffrage leader
Ethel Snowden (1881–1951), English socialist feminist and suffragist
Ethel Spowers (1890–1947), Australian artist
Ethel Teare (1894–1959), American silent-film actress
Ethel Grey Terry (1882–1931), American silent-film actress
Ethel L. M. Thorpe (1908–2001), British-Canadian nurse
Ethel Turner (1872–1958), Australian novelist and children's writer
Ethel Lilian Voynich (1864–1960), English novelist and musician
Ethel Walker (1861–1951), Scottish painter
Ethel Warwick (1882–1951), British actress and artist's model
Ethel Waters (1896–1977), American vocalist and actress
Ethel Wilson (1888–1980), Canadian writer

Fictional characters

Ethel Ambrewster, in the sitcom The Ropers
Ethel Beavers, in the sitcom Parks and Recreation
Ethel Blackmore, in the webcomic Subnormality
Ethel Cain, from Ethel Cain's story.
Ethel Hallow, in The Worst Witch book series by Jill Murphy
Ethel Janowski, in the film Criminally Insane
Ethel Mertz, in the television program I Love Lucy
Ethel Mertz, from The Howard Stern Show
Ethel Muggs, nicknamed Big Ethel, in Archie Comics
Ethel Rogers, in Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None
Ethel Skinner, in the British soap opera EastEnders
Ethel Sprocket, in the Canadian animated sitcom Ricky Sprocket: Showbiz Boy
Ethel Thayer, in the play On Golden Pond
Silvercoat Ethel, in Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Auntie Ethel, in Baldur's Gate 3
Ethel, in the animated film The Garfield Movie

References

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Etymology and historic usage

People

Fictional characters

See also

References

Ethel

Broadcast History