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GIRLS’ NAMES
What They Mean-Famous People That Bore the Name-The Name in History, Literature, Etc.
By Henry W. Fischer
[Welland Telegraph, 17 May 1912]
ETHEL AND GERALDINE
Girls named Ethel must be very careful not to gossip or indulge in slang, lest they belie their name which stands for more or less than “noble speech.” The original name had such encumbrances as “dred,” and “thryth,” and “trud” tacked on to it, but happily they got lost in the course of centuries, the only survivor being St. Etheldreda, with the French very properly contracted: St. Audry, in English Awdry.
In olden times the name day of St. Awdry was celebrated in England by fairs at which sharpers got rid of all sorts of showy trifles, hence the contemptuous term, “tawdry.”
There are not many synonyms for Ethel to choose from, lest one goes back to the earliest English equivalents, Albert, female Alberta. This, by the way, has nothing to do with Berta. Ethels that want a very swell name might adopt the French “Auberta, (pronounced Obert), Aubertine or Albrette.
The old English Awdry is Addy for short.
Ethel’s emblem is the sunflower, its sentiment, lofty thoughts.
Ethel Barrymore is one of the fair celebrities to whom the name was given.
Geraldine figures in the Italian and Spanish calendars as Giralda. The German form is Gerhardine, (pronounced every letter).
The male English form Jarett has no equivalent for women, and Geraldines not content with their beautiful name must choose between Dina and Gerilla, which latter is derived from the old German Guirhilda. But that doesn’t mean that Hilda and Geradine are the same.
When William the Conqueror landed in England, a great many Norman barons named Gerold or Gerald were serving under his flag. They introduced the name in Ireland, hence the plentiful Fitzgeralds, that is the son of Gerald.
“Geraldine” was the nick name of the Fitzgeralds of Kildare, but applied to the boys only.
When one of the Earls of Kildare had a daughter born to him, his clan styled her “Lady Geraldine,” though her real name was Elizabeth. She libes in literature as “Fair Geraldine,” of the Earl of Surrey’s songs and sonnets. She was afterwards Lady Brown and still later Countess of Lincoln.
It’s a long stretch from the middle of the 16th to the first decade of the 20th century, but that much time elapsed before another Geraldine became famous-Geraldine Farrar, the soprano.
Geraldine should be popular with girls for it means, “this fair” according to some authorities. In French it stands for “firm spear.”
Sweet scented tussilage is the emblem and the sentiment promises “justice shall be done to thee.”
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