Mildred

feminine nameOld English/ˈmɪldɹəd/

Mildred means “gentle strength”. It is the Old English name Mildþryð, from milde, “mild”, and þryþ, “strength”.2 3 It belonged to a 7th-century abbess in Kent, and in 1912 it ranked 6 among American girls.5 1

Old English Mildþryð, from milde plus þryþ, to English Mildred.2 3

Rank 6among US girls in 1912, its best 9,921US girls named Mildred in 1913, the year of its highest rate 98US girls named Mildred in 2025

Meaning

What does Mildred mean?

Mildred means “gentle strength”. Behind the Name splits the Old English Mildþryð into milde, “gentle”, and þryþ, “strength”.2 Wiktionary glosses the same two parts as “mild” and “strength”.3

The first part is the word mild, and Wiktionary traces it from Old English milde to a Proto-Germanic form and a root meaning “to beat, pound, grind”. It lists Latin mollis, “soft, gentle”, among the cognates, the words of the same family.4

Does a mild name mean a weak one?

The name itself says no: the second half is strength. Behind the Name files Mildred under both “gentleness” and “strength” in its categories.2

The saint

Who was the first Mildred?

The name is the English form of Saint Mildrith, an Anglo-Saxon abbess of Minster-in-Thanet in Kent, born about 660 and dead some time after 732.5 3

Wikipedia says she was the daughter of King Merewalh of the Magonsaete, in what is now Herefordshire, and of Domne Eafe, a great-granddaughter of Æthelberht of Kent. Her sisters Milburga and Mildgyth were also counted as saints.5 She became abbess by 694, and in the 11th century the monk Goscelin wrote her life, the Vita Mildrethae.5

Her remains were moved to Canterbury in 1030, and Wikipedia says Pope Leo XIII reinstated her feast day in 1881.5 Behind the Name adds that after the Norman Conquest the name became rare and was revived in the 19th century.2

Route

How did Mildþryð become Mildred?

milde + þryþOld English elements: “gentle” and “strength”.2
MildþryðThe Old English name of the abbess; Wikipedia also lists the spellings Mildthryth, Mildryth and Mildred for her.5
MildredThe modern English form, from the name of an 8th-century English saint, as Wiktionary puts it.3

Wiktionary quotes the poet Francis Quarles, about 1625, writing of a Lady Luckyn: “And courtly Mildred dies, while country Madge survives.”3 The line sets a courtly Mildred against a village Madge, so the name was in English use by then.

In the US

How popular was Mildred in the United States?

Mildred reached rank 6 among American girls in 1912, and in 1913, the year of its highest rate, 9,921 girls got it. In 2025 the count was 98.1

Mildred, babies per million born

Babies given the name per million girls born, one point per year, 1880 to 2025. Social Security Administration national file, which lists names given to at least five babies of one sex in a year.1 Total births named Mildred in the file: 451,415.

Other languages

What are Mildred’s short forms and variants?

MildþryðOld English
MildrithSaint’s spelling
MildridNorwegian

Short forms: Millie and Milly, as Behind the Name lists them.2
The saint’s spellings: Wikipedia gives Mildthryth, Mildryth and Mildred as other forms of her name.5

Records

Who else carried the name?

Mildrith: Anglo-Saxon abbess of Minster-in-Thanet, born about 660, died after 732.5
Mildred Harnack: American literary historian and translator, 1902 to 1943, a member of the German resistance against the Nazi regime.6
Babe Didrikson Zaharias: Born Mildred Ella Didrikson, American athlete, 1911 to 1956, who won two gold medals and a silver in track and field at the 1932 Olympics.7
Mildred Loving: American, 1939 to 2008, with her husband Richard a plaintiff in the Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia (1967).8
Mildred Bailey: American jazz singer, 1907 to 1951, born Mildred Rinker, called “The Rockin’ Chair Lady”.9

A black-and-white photograph of a smiling woman in a lace-sleeved dark dress and a necklace, standing in front of a lamp and a mirror. — Mildred Bailey, photographed by William P. Gottlieb at the Aquarium, New York, about August 1946. Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons.10

In words

Which English word hides in Mildred?

mild: Gentle and not easily angered, in Wiktionary’s first sense. It comes from Old English milde, with cognates in German, Dutch, Danish and Icelandic.4

Test yourself

Three questions from this page

Measure my vocabulary

Where does your vocabulary land?

Twelve words, each known by fewer Americans than the last. Your estimate is set against 221,268 people tested in a published study of how many Americans know each word.11