Etymology

Alice

A1L1I1C3E1

Today it means: A female given name from the Germanic languages popular in England since the Middle Ages. Full definition →

Middle English Alice ← Old French Alys ← Old High German Adalheid
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Old High GermanAdalheid
  2. Old FrenchAlys
  3. Middle EnglishAlice
  4. English todayAlice

From Middle English Alice, from Old French Alys, Alice, from Old High German Adalheid, proposed to derive from Proto-Germanic *aþalaz (“noble”) + *haiduz (“character”). Doublet of Adelaide.

Words from the same roots

Old High GermanAdalheid all →

Adelaide

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.