| Gender | female |
|---|---|
| Origin | |
| Meaning | gentleness, pleasure, youthfulness |
Edna (Hebrew: עֶדְנָה) is a female given name originating from several languages. In Hebrew, it means "pleasure".[1] Various women named Edna are referenced in the Old Testament apocryphal books Jubilees (where the wives of Enoch, Methuselah, and Terah are all so named) and Tobit. The name Edna may also be an Anglicized form of the Irish and Scottish name Eithne,[2] meaning "kernel" in Gaelic.[3] This was a very popular girl's name in the United States in the early 20th century, but has since become unfashionable. It is also a very rare surname. Edna, as derived from Hebrew, is closely related etymologically to the name Eden.
People with the given name Edna
- Edna Béjarano (born 1951), Israeli singer
- Edna Best (1900–1974), British actress
- Edna Deane (1905–1995), English ballroom dancer, choreographer and author
- Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney (1824–1904), American writer, reformer, philanthropist
- Edna Cain Daniel (1875–1957), American journalist and publisher
- Edna Doré (1922–2014), British actress
- Edna Eicke (1919–1979), American illustrator
- Edna Ferber (1885–1968), American novelist
- Edna Indermaur (1892-1985), American contralto
- Edna Iturralde (born 1948), Ecuadorian author
- Edna F. Kelly (1906–1997), American politician
- Edna Leedom (1896–1937), American actress
- Edna Lewis (1916–2006), African-American chef
- Edna Madzongwe (born 1943), Zimbabwean politician
- Edna Manley (1900–1987), Jamaican sculptor
- Dame Edna O'Brien (born 1930), Irish writer
- Edna Pahewa (born 1954), New Zealand weaver
- Edna Dean Proctor (1829–1923), American poet
- Edna Purviance (1895–1958), American actress
- Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950), American poet and playwright
- Edna Stern (born 1977), Belgian-Israeli pianist
- Edna Tichenor (1901–1965), American actress
- Edna Adan Ismail (Born 1937), Somali foreign Minister, Midwife, FGM abolitionist and former First first lady of Somaliland
Fictional characters
- Edna, maid of the Birlings in the play An Inspector Calls
- Edna, the Inebriate Woman, 1971 BBC TV drama
- Edna Birch in the television series Emmerdale
- Edna Braithwaite, a maid in Downton Abbey Edna from Flintstones
- Dame Edna Everage
- Edna Garrett in the television series Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life
- Edna Gee in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street in the 1970s
- Edna Krabappel in the television series The Simpsons
- Edna Mode, fictional fashion designer in the animated film The Incredibles
- Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin's novel "The Awakening"
- Edna Spalding in the 1984 film Places in the Heart
- Edna Turnblad in the 1988 film Hairspray and subsequent adaptations as a stage musical and musical film
See also
- Adna (given name), which is transliterated as "Edna" in the Douay–Rheims Bible
References
- ↑ Behind the Name - Edna (2) Campbell, Mike
- ↑ Behind the Name - Edna (1) Campbell, Mike
- ↑ Behind the Name - Eithne Campbell, Mike
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