Meanings
plural Aubreys · alternative Aubreigh · alternative Awbrey
- countableuncountableAn English patronymic surname.
- countableuncountableA male given name from the Germanic languages or transferred from the surname.
Call him my king, by whose injurious doom / My elder brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere, / Was done to death?
c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii] - countableuncountableA female given name transferred from the surname, of 1970s and later American usage.
- countableuncountableA locality in the Shire of Yarriambiack, north western Victoria, Australia.
Origin
- Old High GermanAlberich
- LatinAlberīcus
- NormanAuberi
- Middle EnglishAubrey
- EnglishAubrey
From Middle English Aubrey, Aubry, from Norman Auberi, Alberi, from Latin Alberīcus, Latinized form of Old High German Alberich, from Proto-Germanic *Albirīks, from *albiz (“elf, fairy”) + *rīks (“king, ruler”). Possibly influenced by Gaulish Albiorīx (literally "ruler of the world"). Cognates include German Alberich and Italian Alberico.
More words from Middle English, Norman, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Aubrey. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Aubrey
“Aubrey.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Aubrey. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Aubrey,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Aubrey.
Source: Aubrey on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.