Edna (given name)
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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 Best (1900–1974), British actress
- Edna Doré (born 1922), British actress
- Edna Eicke (1919–1979), American illustrator
- Edna Ferber (1885–1968), American novelist
- Edna Iturralde, Ecuadorian author
- Edna F. Kelly (1906-1997), American politician
- Edna Madzongwe (born 1943), Zimbabwean politician
- Edna Manley (1900-1987), Jamaican sculptor, wife of Norman Manley
- Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950), American poet and playwright
- Edna Stern (born 1977), Belgian-Israeli pianist
Fictional characters
References