Ethel
A unisex name of Old English origin, meaning noble; diminutive of names with ethel element.
Ethel by the numbers
In 2025, 26 babies in England and Wales were named Ethel. In the US, 28 were, though that figure is from 2017, the most recent full year we hold.
For the size of the two countries, it is given several times more often in England and Wales than in the US.
Its American peak was 8,076 babies in 1918, so it is a 1910s name that has since fallen a long way.
Spelled almost the same
Other names in the records within a letter or two of Ethel. Close spellings are not always related names, but they are usually worth seeing together.
- Eriel34 in the US (2017)
Other names that mean nobility
Like Ethel, each of these has nobility in its meaning. Different names, different histories, the same idea.
- Aaronmountain of strength; exalted7,185 in the US (2017)
- Aubreyelf ruler; noble strength6,029 in the US (2017)
- Nolanchampion, descendant of the noble one5,403 in the US (2017)
- Audreynoble strength4,820 in the US (2017)
- Aaliyahhigh, exalted, of high rank4,167 in the US (2017)
- Allisonnoble natured; a form of Alison4,017 in the US (2017)
Names about as common as Ethel
Nobody has voted for Ethel yet
Vote for Ethel and put it up against all the other baby names
Vote for Ethel