Edna

Hebrew

"rejuvenation, delight"

Edna Origin and Meaning

The name Edna is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "rejuvenation, delight".

Edna is one of those names that, until what it seemed like a few minutes ago, felt so terminally frumpy that no one could imagine a parent choosing it for an innocent modern baby girl. But with the great upswing in names honoring ancestral family members, several of them being other four-letter, e-ending names, we wouldn't be so sure.

Edna, which means delight, is a semi-biblical name--in the Apocrypha she is seen as a loving mother-- and was enormously popular in this country in the late nineteenth century, reaching as high as Number 11. It also relates to Eden--another, more contemporary sounding, option.

Three literary bearers of the name are Edna St. Vincent Millay, Edna Ferber and Edna O'Brien, and to some the name might be identified with the campy character, Dame Edna Everage.

Edna Rank in US Top 1000

# 946 in the US

Edna Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 1163 on Nameberry

Edna Popularity

• 1163 Nameberry 2024
• 940 Unique 2023
• 90 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022

20 Names Similar to Edna

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Edna.

• Ethel
• Doris
• Gertrude
• Mildred
• Betty
• Edwina
• Agatha
• Winifred
• Enid
• Hermia
• Elinor
• Beulah
• Griselda
• Dorothea
• Eugenia
• Edith
• Dinah
• Blanche
• Prudence
• Dolly

Famous People Named Edna

• Edna Ferber American novelist
• Edna St. Vincent Millay American poet
• (Olga) Edna Purviance American silent film actress; frequent Charlie Chaplin co,star
• Edna O'Brien Irish novelist
• (Edna) Annie Proulx American novelist
• Edna May Oliver American character actress
• Edna Mae "Deanna" Durbin Canadian,American actress and singer
• Edna Staebler (born Cora Margaret Cress) Canadian journalist and cookbook author
• Edna Rae Gillooly birth name of Ellen Burstyn, American actress
• Edna Lyall pen name of English novelist Ada Ellen Bayly
• Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat Kenyan distance runner
• Edna Dore (born Edna Lillian Gorring) English actress
• Edna Best English actress
• (Flora) Edna White American trumpeter and bandleader
• Edna Deakin American architect

Edna in Pop Culture

• Edna Mode character in animated movie "The Incredibles"
• Edna Turnblad character in movie and musical Hairspray
• Edna Krabappel character on TV's "The Simpsons"
• Edna Birch character on British soap "Emmerdale"
• Edna Pontellier main character in Kate Chopin's "The Awakening"
• "Cinder Edna " children's book
• Edna Poppy character in Barbara Kingsolver's "The Bean Trees"
• Edna servant of the Birling Household in the play "An Inspector Calls"