Meaning and history
Medieval diminutive of Æðelþryð. It was borne by a 7th-century saint, a princess of East Anglia who founded a monastery at Ely, and was later used by William Shakespeare for a character in As You Like It (1599). The name became rare at the end of the Middle Ages because of its association with tawdry, a word derived from St. Audrey, the name of a fair where cheap lace was sold, but it was revived in the 19th century. A famous bearer was the British actress Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993).
20062006: 4,649 births, rank #69
2007: 5,249 births, rank #51
2008: 5,443 births, rank #44
2009: 5,008 births, rank #49
2010: 4,952 births, rank #52
20112011: 5,215 births, rank #43
2012: 5,300 births, rank #41
2013: 5,605 births, rank #33
2014: 5,570 births, rank #36
2015: 5,613 births, rank #37
20162016: 5,369 births, rank #39
2017: 4,835 births, rank #46
2018: 4,697 births, rank #46
2019: 4,460 births, rank #49
2020: 3,768 births, rank #60
20212021: 3,685 births, rank #60
2022: 3,340 births, rank #67
2023: 3,042 births, rank #74
2024: 3,006 births, rank #82
20252025: 2,919 births, rank #86
Audrey has unusual staying power. It appears in the US records as early as 1881 and still ranks #86 for girls in 2025. Its highest annual birth count came in 2015, with 5,613 births.