Name profile

Æðelræd

An Old English name meaning “noble counsel.”

Meaning and history

Æðelræd is an Old English masculine name formed from æðele, meaning “noble,” and ræd, meaning “counsel,” giving the sense “noble counsel.” Its best-known bearer was King Æthelred II of England, whose epithet “the Unready” is a play on unræd, or “poor counsel.” The more conventional modern scholarly spelling is Æthelred.