Audrey /ˈɔːdri/ is an English feminine given name. It 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 (d. 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, e.g. Etheldred Benett (1776–1845).
In the 17th century, the name of Saint Audrey gave rise to the adjective tawdry "cheap and pretentious; cheaply adorned" (after a fair of St. Audrey where cheap lace was sold). 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.
Audre Lorde (1934-1992), American poet, social theorist and activist
Audrey Assad (born 1983), American contemporary Christian musician
Audrey Brown (1913–2005), British athlete
Audrey Chapman (1899-1993), American actress
Audrey de Montigny (born 1985), French-Canadian singer
Audrey Emery (1904–1971), American socialite and wife of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia
Audrey Flack (born 1931), American artist
Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993), actress and fashion model
Audrey Hochberg (1933–2005), New York politician
Audrey Kitching (born 1985), model, fashion designer, fashion blogger
Audrey Landers (born 1956), American actress
Audrey Lawson-Johnston (born 1915), last survivor of the shipwreck Lusitania
Audrey Long (born 1922), American actress
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 Munson (1891–1996), American model and actress
Audrey Niffenegger (born 1963), American novelist
Audrey Patterson (1926–1996), American athlete
Audrey Penn (born 1947) American author
Audrey Richards (1899–1984), British anthropologist
Audrey Riley, a cellist and string arranger based in the UK
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 (born 1960), American film director
Audrey Williamson (born 1926), British athlete
Fictional characters
Audrey Cheng, a character in the Power of Five novels
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 Hanson, a character in television series Heroes
Audrey Horne, a character on the television series Twin Peaks
Audrey Raines, a character in television series 24
Audrey Reede, a character in the film Liar Liar
Audrey Roberts, a character on the British soap opera Coronation Street
Audrey Turfe, a character in Ben Jonson's A Tale of a Tub
Audrey, a 1902 book by Mary Johnston, or the film of it made in 1916
Audrey, a character in Shakespeare's As You Like It
Little Audrey, a cartoon character who was mainly popular during the 1950s and 1960s.
Audrey Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA