Edith
Meaning of Edith
Edith—pronounced EE-dith in English and AY-dit in German—springs from the Old English lexemes ēad, “prosperity,” and gȳð, “battle,” a coupling that evokes, almost in Virgilian fashion, the spoils of fortuna hard-won per ardua. Across the centuries the name has been borne by saints and sovereigns (Saint Edith of Wilton, Edith of Wessex), novelists and nightingales (Pulitzer-laureate Edith Wharton, “la môme” Edith Piaf), and even the silver screen’s sartorial oracle Edith Head, each adding a tessera to its mosaic of dignified resilience. In the United States its statistical arc reads like a classical parabola: soaring from the 1890s to the roaring ’20s—when it briefly grazed the zenith of rank 32—then descending through the mid-century lull, only to mount a quiet renaissance after 2010, now hovering, phoenix-like, around rank 450. That ebb and flow suggests a name simultaneously time-honored and ripe for rediscovery, a cameo rescued from a grandmother’s jewel box and newly burnished for modern wear. Thus, to bestow Edith upon a daughter is to sign, beneath the benign gaze of antiquity, a compact promising both the richness of character and the valor to defend it—virtus et opulentia, elegantly distilled into two crisp syllables and a whispering final th.
Pronunciation
German
- Pronunced as AY-dit (/aɪ̯.dɪt/)
English
- Pronunced as EE-dith (/ˈi.dɪθ/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Edith
| British nurse Edith Cavell was executed by Germany for aiding Allied soldiers and treating all wounded impartially during WWI, sparking worldwide condemnation. |
| Edith Stein, a German philosopher who converted to Catholicism and became a Carmelite nun, was martyred at Auschwitz and is now a saint and patron saint of Europe. |
| Edith Wharton was a trailblazing American author who became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with her novel "The Age of Innocence." |
| Edith Hamilton was a renowned American educator and author celebrated for her best-selling books on ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. |
| Edith Nourse Rogers - Edith Rogers, the first woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts, served 35 years and championed veterans' rights by sponsoring the GI Bill and establishing women's military corps. |
| Edith Windsor was an LGBT rights activist whose Supreme Court case overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, securing a landmark victory for same-sex marriage. |
| Dame Edith Sitwell, a British poet, never married but was devoted to painter Pavel Tchelitchew and generously welcomed London's poets into her home. |
| Edith Cowan was the first Australian woman elected to parliament, a dedicated advocate for women and children, and her image graces the fifty-dollar note. |
| Edith Anne Stoney, an Irish physicist from Dublin, was the first woman medical physicist. |
| Edith Rockefeller McCormick transformed from a prominent Chicago socialite into a Jungian psychoanalyst and a key organizer of Women's World Fairs celebrating female achievement in the 1920s. |
| Edith Frank, mother of Anne Frank, died in Auschwitz-Birkenau after being discovered in hiding in Amsterdam during the German occupation. |
| Edith Williams was a pioneering Canadian veterinarian whose preserved correspondence with life partner Dr. Frieda Fraser offers a rare glimpse into early 20th-century lesbian life. |
| Edith Julia Morley broke barriers as the first female professor in Britain and championed suffrage and refugee relief efforts. |
| Edith Flagg was an Austrian-born American fashion designer who pioneered importing polyester to the U.S. and later appeared on "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles" with her grandson. |
