Adelaide sounds regal and vintage, a sister for Eleanor, an alternative to Charlotte.
Thanks to Annabel for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
Adelaide: Alice’s Big Sister
The Germanic Adalheidis gave us the stylish Alice and the homespun Ada, spunky Heidi and sweet Adeline. Or at least, they’re all cousins, found on the same family trees.
It comes from the elements adal – noble – and heid – type. So girls by this name are the noble kind, high-minded and perhaps a little bit privileged, too. That’s exactly what the name sounds like, too.
Adelaide: Regal Roots
Plenty of early bearers of the name were born to the tiara.
Adalheid von Burgund was born in 931. She married the King of Italy; after he was killed by his rival, she refused to marry the son of her husband’s assassin, and fled instead. Eventually she married again, this time becoming Holy Roman Empress. She’d eventually serve as regent for her grandson. Because she used her position to help the poor and build churches, the dowager empress was eventually recognized as a saint. Her life story inspired operas by Handel and Rossini, and Judy Chicago included her in the art installation “The Dinner Party,” a work about the important women of history.
More noblewomen and princesses followed, including two queen consorts of France.
Here’s the game-changer: in the nineteenth century, King William IV of the United Kingdom married a German princess called Adelaide, and the name caught on with English speakers at last.
Sure, she reigned. But she also proved quite popular. Adelaide was known for her grace, her generosity, and her devotion to her faith. The monarchy was in a bit of a muddle, with a decided lack of heirs. None of the royal couple’s children lived more than a few months.
William was ultimately succeeded by Queen Victoria. It’s said that the childless royals were always kind to their niece; indeed, Victoria’s firstborn was named Princess Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa. The name has been in use in the royal family ever since.
Adelaide: Australia
The good queen also inspired the name of the capital of South Australia, founded in 1836.
That puts this name on the map, just like Brooklyn and Savannah. With so many place names in the US Top 1000, the tie to the Australian city can only bolster the name.
Adelaide: By the Numbers
It may be that the queen inspired parents, but we can’t known for sure. She died in 1849, a dozen years after her husband died and Victoria ascended the throne.
When the US rankings were first established in the 1880s, it appears that Adelaide was already falling. By the 1940s, the name had exited the Top 1000 entirely.
In 2005, the name returned. As of 2016, it was up to #258.
That seems impressive, but consider this: Addison, Adeline, Adalyn, Adalynn, Adaline, and Adelyn are all far more popular. The rise of Addie names – which followed all those Maddie names – probably deserves credit for some of this name’s resurgence.
Whether that’s a problem or a plus is up to you. Addie will get lost in the crowd. Despite that, Adelaide remains a style stand-out, a name that few other names resemble too closely.
If you’re looking for a name as classic and flexible as Elizabeth or Katherine, but slightly less common, this could be the perfect choice for your daughter.
What do you think of Adelaide? Do you like another Addie name better? And Australian readers, tell me – is this too wedded to the city to be used as a child’s name there?
This post was published originally on November 10, 2010. Following substantial revision, it was re-posted on February 28, 2018.
My daughter Adell was born just one day before this article was reposted, so I’m definitely partial to that Addie name! Although her nickname is Baby Dell, as our two year old son calls her. Adell is a family middle (hence the uncommon spelling) that made it’s way to the first name spot. Poor thing went nameless for two weeks as we tried on and rejected all our top names, until we realized that Adell was meant to be her first name.
I don’t like it- laide means ugly in french.
Adelaide is lovely, and my favorite of the Ad names. Just wondering- does anyone do formal name Adelaide, nickname Heidi?? Heidi is on of my hubbys faves and I like having more formal names with nicknames.. 😉
Also- I read recently that Adelaide was the most popular girls name in Idaho right now in a post about most popular names by state… Not sure if this is accurate but I found it interesting.
Adelaide Elizabeth is a darling one-year-old in my extended family. Her nickname is Della (aDELAide), which sets her name apart from all the Addies. I like the history of the name Adelaide and the uniqueness of using Della as the nickname. I’ve only come across that combination once or twice online.
On Della- one of my daughters is named Delphine and we sometimes call her Della too!
I do love nicknames. Adelaide definitely has some great ones 😉
Huh, did the rest of this entry disappear? All I see is the bit up to Heidi.
Right with you, Marvy!!
I have a 9 year old Adelaide, also named after my great-great-grandmother, who was a schoolteacher. My mom inherited some of her books, and I loved her signature in the fronts of those books growing up, and copied the way she wrote her initial “A” for my own name, Amy. When we hit on this name as a suggestion when we were expecting, there was no longer any contest for a girls’ name pick! (Though, to go with Marmalade, my older daughter, Rosemary, on first hearing her name, thought of “Lemonade.”) And we’re great with the Addie nickname, too, though my daughter prefers it with the “y” ending, “Addy.” We have been surprised to hear the gaining popularity, as well, but think it’s well-deserved. And we only know one baby Adelaide so far (at our congregation), and have heard of one other baby in the last year or so.
Oh, I love that idea. It is a subtle tie to your name AND your family history, too!
Adelaide is my 12 year old daughter’s name…I chose it because it was my beloved grandmother’s name and because I loved the idea of calling her Addie. When we named her, Adelaide was more unusual and we have been surprised to hear that it is becoming more popular — I worried that I had chosen an extremely old fashioned name that would be too stodgy. But I now love it, and so does she. I don’t even mind that people assume she is “Addison” — it’s fun to explain what her real name is. Her full name is Margaret Adelaide, as the flow was better than Adelaide Margaret (and Margaret was another family name). One friend calls her “Marmalade” based on this…
You were WAY ahead of the curve, Marvy! Great name – and Marmalade is a fun nickname.
Adelaide was on my list of names for Roseanna — the list that Mark sadly didn’t like. I included it on there because I find the name beautiful and also because Heidi is a family name. When we decided to name our daughter after Mark’s mother I insisted that I choose the middle names. Adelaide came up again, as did Adeline (not on the original list). We decided to go with Adeline for the sake of flow.
Rachel Griffiths (Australian actress of 6 Feet Under and Brothers & Sisters fame) has three kids with very Australian seeming names: Banjo, Adelaide, & Clementine. I love it as a sibset! I like Clementine, but way out west the song just seems so dreary. I love Matilda, too — but that song is depressing as well, although a very sweet sound to it.
Nice addition, Liz. I always remember the daring Banjo, but her girls’ names really are lovely.
I have to say something on this name, since it’s spent 7 years close to my heart…
I first found out about it hearing a song by Norwegian musician Thomas Dybdahl (who’s amazing). His song ‘Adelaide’ is for all the late bloomers of this world, and I’m most certainly one of them, and the song is beyond beautiful… Here’s a link to the music video, which is equally beautiful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yc9JdNFJ_s
Another reason the name is important to me is due to my friend Heidi. She used to be my best friend, and she was the worst best friend anyone could have… I lived with her for a year, and it was the worst year of my life and drove me into depression that I’ve only recently managed to claw my way out of. She’s now as out of my life as I can get her, and I’m very, very relieved… The relationship between Heidi and Adelaide is a good way to represent how I managed to survive her. I always knew in my heart that the fault was hers, that I was a victim, and that in the end I was better than her. I had lasting power, I was original, not some cute diminutive. I had class where she had charm, I had integrity where she had sweet things and money. I considered myself as the whole, and her as the incomplete shadow, a point of view I still hold true… Despite everything she did to me, I have always been her only real friend, the one person who accepted her regardless and that’s why it was so important for her to manipulate me and keep me around. She needed me, and she wished she was more like me. I live because I was wise enough to understand that, and so I’m Adelaide and she’ll never be. She’s Heidi…
This is why I’ve chosen Adelaide as my middle name. I didn’t have on before, but I do now. It’s to remind me of my worth, and of the fact that Heidi was once part of my life and that she shaped me into much of what I am today. Not by making me like her, but by making me understand that I need to be as little like her as I possibly can. I live with that, proudly.
That said, I could never use the name Adelaide for one of my own children, regardless of how much I love the name… Naming one of my children ‘after her’ would be horrifying.
Also, my favourite nickname for Adelaide is not in any way ‘Addie’, but ‘Lady’. Adorable!
And one version I found in Norwegian records/namebooks is ‘Aleidis’ which I think is beautiful 🙂 That’s actually managed to sneak it’s way into my list, in case I find a special person who happens to adore it 🙂
That’s a powerful association, Dearest – too much for a child, but a meaningful one for yourself!
Aleidis is lovely. 🙂