ETHEL  

Gender: F
Origin: English
Meaning: "noble maiden"

Sounds as dated today as the old Anglo-Saxon names that hatched it -- Ethelreda and Elthelburga -- though it was the Ava of a hundred years ago.

Nicknames & Variations:
Ethyl, Ethelle, Ethlyn, Ethlin, Ethille, Ethelynn, Ethyll, Ethlynn, Ethelin, Ethill, Ethelda, Ethelinda, Ethelynne, Etheline, Ethelyn

Ethel is being discussed in our message boards:

• Blending the Old and the New
• coming out of the closet!
• This -or- that? Worst name edition :)
• Old Lady... yet COOL!
• Challenge

Read Nameberry blog posts about Ethel:

• BLACK HISTORY NAMES: Cultural heroines of the Harlem Renaissance
• PRESIDENT'S DAY NAMES: All the Presidents' children
• GOLDEN GIRL NAMES
• 1910 BABY NAMES: Testing the 100-year rule
• THE LOST NAMES OF 1880