Origin:
Arabic
Ethel (also æthel) is an Old English word meaning "noble". It is frequently attested as the first element in Anglo-Saxon names, both masculine and feminine, e.g. Æthelhard, Æthelred, Æthelwulf; Æthelburg, Æthelflæd, Æthelthryth (Audrey). It corresponds to the Adel- and Edel- in continental names, such as Adolph (Æthelwulf), Adalbert (Albert), Adelheid (Adelaide), Edeltraut and Edelgard. There would be some reason to believe that the word is actually taken from "aedilis" or "aedile", the Latin name of a Roman official, whose function was that of a magistrate and superintendent of public property. It was common that in smaller towns in the Roman era that the only public official was the aedile. Importantly, in later Roman times, the Aedile was in charge of the public treasury. The later clerical Latin translation of "aethel" as "clito" may be a reflection of the fact that there was no such formal position after the Roman civil authority disappeared. "Clito" was from "incluto" and an earlier Greek word that certainly did not mean "noble" in the sense of an inherited class status, but rather famous or illustrious.
Some of the feminine Anglo-Saxon names in Æthel- survived into the modern period (e.g. Etheldred Benett 1776–1845). Ethel was in origin used as a familiar form of such names, but it began to be used as a feminine given name in its own right beginning in the mid-19th century, gaining popularity due to characters so named in novels by W. M. Thackeray (The Newcomes - 1855) and Charlotte Mary Yonge (The Daisy Chain whose heroine Ethel's full name is Etheldred - 1856); the actress Ethel Barrymore - born 1879 - was named after The Newcomes character. Notes & Queries published correspondence about the name Ethel in 1872 because it was in fashion. The feminine name's popularity peaked in the 1890. In the United States, it was the 7th most commonly given girl's name in the year 1894. Its use gradually declined during the 20th century, falling below rank 100 by 1940, and below rank 1000 in 1976. Ethel was also occasionally used as a male given name during the period of ca. the 1880s to 1910s, but never with any frequency (never rising above rank 400, or 0.02% in popularity)
People called Ethel
Ethel D. Allen (1929-1981), the first African-American woman to serve on Philadelphia City Council
Ethel Anderson (1883–1958), Australian poet, essayist, novelist and painter
Ethel Percy Andrus (1884–1967), educator and founder of AARP
Ethel Armes (1876–1945), American journalist and historian
Ethel Armitage (1873–1957), British archer and 1908 Olympic competitor
Ethel Ayler (born 1934), American stage and film actress
Ethel Azama (1934–1984), American jazz and popular singer
Ethel Barrymore (1879–1959), American stage and screen actress
Ethel Bentham (1861–1931), English doctor, politician and suffragette
Ethel Blondin-Andrew (born 1951), Canadian politician and parliamentarian
Ethel Catherwood (1908–1987), American high jump gold medalist in the 1928 Olympics
Ethel Clayton (1882–1966), American silent film actress
Ethel Roosevelt Derby (1891–1977), younger daughter of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
Ethel Hatch (1869-1975), muse of Lewis Carroll
Ethel Hays (1892–1989), American cartoonist and illustrator
Ethel Kennedy (born 1928), American widow of Robert F. Kennedy
Ethel Lang (1900-2015), British supercentenarian and the last Victorian
Ethel MacDonald (1909–1960), Scottish anarchist, activist and propagandist
Ethel Merman (1908–1984), American actress and singer
Ethel L. Payne (1911–1991), African American journalist
Ethel Rosenberg (1915–1953), American executed for espionage
Ethel Schwabacher (1903–1984), American abstract expressionist painter
Ethel Shannon (1898–1951), American silent film actress
Ethel Smith (organist) (1902–1996), American organist and recording artist
Ethel Smyth (1858–1944), English composer and women's suffrage leader
Ethel Teare (1894–1959), American silent film actress.
Ethel Grey Terry (1882–1931), American silent film actress
Ethel Turner (1872–1958), Australian novelist and children's writer
Ethel Lilian Voynich (1864–1960), English novelist and musician
Ethel Waters (1896–1977), American blues and jazz vocalist and actress
Fictional characters
Big Ethel, from Archie Comics
Ethel Hallow, from The Worst Witch book series by Jill Murphy
Ethel Mertz, from the television program I Love Lucy
Ethel Mertz, a Richard Christy character from The Howard Stern Show
Ethel Skinner, in the British soap opera EastEnders
Ethel Thayer, a character from On Golden Pond
Ethel Blackmore, from Subnormality