Audre
Feminine · “Noble strength”
Audre is given to both — 870 girls and 40 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Audre is Audrey with the last letter removed, and the woman who made the spelling famous removed it herself, at about four years old, because she liked the way the name looked when both halves matched.
How old is the name Audre?
Audre first appears in US birth records in 1911 — 114 years ago. The typical Audre alive today was born around 1942, making them about 83 years old. About 500 people named Audre are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Audre most popular?
Audre peaked in 1927, reaching #1669 nationally. See the whole 1927 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Æthelthryth to Audre
The story of Audre
Audre Lorde said she disliked the tail of the y hanging below the line and wanted the name to be even on both sides, so she wrote it without the letter and kept writing it that way for the rest of her life — a spelling decision made by a small child that ended up on the covers of books taught in universities. She described herself in the same spirit, in a list she used deliberately and in that order, as black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet, on the grounds that leaving any of them out made the rest untrue. The name behind hers belonged to an abbess who founded a monastery for both men and women and ruled it herself, which was ordinary in her century and would not be again for a thousand years.
Meaning
Noble strength
The Old English name behind it joins a word meaning noble to one meaning strength. It belonged to a seventh-century abbess and was worn down over a thousand years into the modern form; the dropped final letter here changes nothing.
How the name formed
- Æthelthryth
- Audrey
- Audre
Pronouncing Audre
AW-dray
Two syllables, stress at the front. The final e can be sounded or silent, and both are used.
Nicknames for Audre
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1911
- Most girls named
- 192622 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1669reached in 1927
- Change vs 2022
- −16.7%5 in 2024, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Audres among us
people named Audre are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Audre sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, strong and easy to explain.
- It is short, distinctive and read correctly on sight.
- It carries a namesake worth having.
- Audrey is the familiar spelling and hers will be written that way.
- The spelling is recorded for a few boys, but nearly every child with it is a girl.
- The ending is said two ways and she will be asked which.
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What they receive
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Audre
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Audres are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Audre are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Audre in 2025?
- Audre is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Audre with classmates?
- Audre will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More A names
The most-given names starting with A, all years combined.
Anna#107 · Ashley#164 · Amanda#493 · Amy#257 · Angela#408 · Alice#65 · Ann#1076 · Andrea#235
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Audre? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Audre and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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