Entry № 2743 · Old English origin

Edith Edith — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ EE-dith /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Old English
Meaning
"Prosperous in war, blessed strife"
Syllables
2
First recorded
Ancient (Old English)

A name that means "prosperous in war, blessed strife".

Edith comes from the Old English Eadgyth — composed of ead (prosperity, blessing) and gyth (strife, war) — meaning "prosperous in war" or "blessed warrior." The Anglo-Saxon Saint Edith of Wilton (961-984) was an early bearer.

Edith was hugely popular in the late 19th century — peaking at #5 in 1880. After a long decline it has returned, particularly with the prominence of Edith Crawley in Downton Abbey (2010-2015). Today Edith sits in the U.S. top 400 and is climbing fast.

Prosperous in war. A 19th-century classic returning.

The name in its native script.

Edith
Transliteration
Edith
Pronunciation
/ ˈiː.dɪθ /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Edith stands.

Edith does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Ediths before her.

Real people
Edith Wharton
American novelist. First woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
1862 – 1937
Edith Piaf
French singer.
1915 – 1963
In fiction
Edith Crawley
Character in Downton Abbey.
ITV/PBS, 2010–2015

Names connected to Edith.

The number behind Edith.

1

The Leader

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Edith reduce to 1, The Leader. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.