Name of the Day: Audrey

Fair warning:  the Name of the Day today is in the Top 50, so if popularity bothers you, be sure to keep this in mind.

Scene:  an unnamed Midwestern university.  Characters:  an unnamed blog writer (we’ll call her Melissa*), smack in the middle of her “skinny phase.”  She is taller than most of the other girls, and she must constantly field well-meant questions concerning anorexia.  She does not appreciate said questions, and she wishes she had a nice figure, rather than the proportions of a telephone pole.

Action.

Melissa is sitting in the living room of her off-campus housing.  All of her housemates are out doing whatever it is well-liked college students do on a Friday night.  She sighs as she nestles further into her beanbag chair.  It’s too quiet, so she turns on the T.V.

The T.V. is fortuitously tuned to the American Movie Classics channel.  “Oh, it’s an old black-and-white movie,” Melissa thinks, with her generation’s prejudice against the creative works of every other generation.  But she watches the movie, which happens to be Roman Holiday.

The heroine of the movie is not one of the blond, voluptuous starlets Melissa had come to expect from the limited exposure she’d had with movies from the 1950s.

In fact, the heroine was tall, skinny, and didn’t have much of a figure at all.

And this, my friends, is how hero worship is born.  Since that night, I — um, I mean Melissa has watched nearly every Audrey Hepburn movie out there.

Okay, Audrey stuck to pretty much the same types of characters for most of her career.  Okay, she didn’t have that great of a singing voice (Julie Andrews fans, give it a rest!  Be honest:  would YOU refuse the part of Eliza Doolittle?).  But, darn it, she was memorable.  Not to mention, she seemed like a genuinely likable person, which is more than we can say for most of the major movie stars out there nowadays.

And I have a hunch that most of the parents using the name Audrey are hoping to evoke some of the same feelings for their own daughter.  Elegance, sweetness, unconventional beauty, altruism, and likability.  Who doesn’t want that for their daughter?

I guess the only question is whether or not Audrey-the-name conveys all of those things.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the name Audrey is all about Hepburn.  Really, think about it.  It has the unfashionable “dr” cluster, which gives it a heft that people are generally trying to avoid these days.  The name that Audrey originally came from, Etheldred, is so far away from current tastes that it’s almost comical.  Audrey rhymes with “tawdry,” although, granted, people don’t tend to use that word in casual conversation any more.  The saint associated with Audrey is associated with neck tumors.

But … Audrey.  One actress has the power to supersede all of those negative associations.

And isn’t that what we all want?  To be a credit to our name (so to speak)?  I can think of no greater compliment than to have people think of my name (which is NOT Melissa) and smile, years after I am gone.

So if you want to use the name Audrey, even though it’s popular, I think it would be lovely.

*names have been changed to protect the innocent (or slightly embarrassed)

from AskOxford
Much altered form of the Old English girl’s name Ædhelþrydh, derived from ædhel ‘noble’ + þrydh ’strength’. This was the name of a 6th-century saint (normally known by the Latinized form of her name, Etheldreda), who was a particular favourite in the Middle Ages. According to tradition she died from a tumour of the neck, which she bore stoically as a divine punishment for her youthful delight in fine necklaces. The name went into a decline at the end of the Middle Ages, when it came to be considered vulgar, being associated with tawdry, that is, lace and other goods sold at fairs held in her name (the word deriving from a misdivision of Saint Audrey). Shakespeare bestowed it on Touchstone’s comic sweetheart in As You Like It. In the 20th century such associations have largely been forgotten and the name has revived, partly due in the 1950s and 60s to the popularity of the actress Audrey Hepburn (1929–93).

from Behind the Name
Audrey:  Medieval diminutive of ÆÐELÞRYÐ (Etheldred). This was the name of a 7th-century saint, a princess of East Anglia who founded a monastery at Ely. It was also borne by a character in Shakespeare’s comedy ‘As You Like It’ (1599). At the end of the Middle Ages the name became rare due to association with the word tawdry (which was derived from St. Audrey, the name of a fair where cheap lace was sold), but it was revived in the 19th century.
Etheldred:  Derived from the Old English elements æðel “noble” and þryð “strength”.

from NameBerry
Saint’s name rising again thanks to reverence for the eternally radiant Audrey Hepburn. Celebs who have chosen the name include Greg Kinnear, Steve Zahn, and Faith Hill & Tim McGraw.

from Baby Name Wizard
Style:  Timeless
Sisters and Brothers:  Claire, Avery, Kathryn, Caroline, Ava, Clayton, Davis, Raymond, Warren, Jack
Back in the ‘30s, Audrey was a trendy choice alongside kindred spirits Shirley and Beverly.  But Audrey had a cleaner, classic sound that never lost its luster.  Today, it’s a welcome alternative to fading favorites Ashley and Courtney.