Aubrey
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English Aubrey, Aubry, from Norman Auberi, Alberi, from Latin Alberīcus, Latinized form of Old High German Alberich, from Proto-Germanic *Albirīks, from *albiz (“elf, fairy”) + *rīks (“king, ruler”). Possibly influenced by Gaulish Albiorīx (literally "ruler of the world"). Cognates include German Alberich and Italian Alberico.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɔːbɹi/
Audio: (file)
Proper noun
Aubrey
- An English patronymic surname.
- A male given name from the Germanic languages or transferred from the surname.
- c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
- Call him my king, by whose injurious doom / My elder brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere, / Was done to death?
- A female given name transferred from the surname, of 1970s and later American usage.
References
- E. G. Withycombe (1977) The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names[1], Third edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, retrieved 12 December 2023, pages 9, 35