ALICE
AL-iss
A classic name ultimately tied to nobility, through old French forms of a Germanic name meaning “noble kind” or “noble person.”
Meaning
The excerpts connect Alice to Old French Adelais, ultimately from Germanic elements meaning “noble” and “kind” or “person.” One excerpt glosses Alice as “noble cheer,” reflecting the older etymological tradition found in 19th-century name books. The modern name Alice came into English through French forms rather than directly from the Germanic root.
Origin
Old FrenchGermanicfeminine
Fun fact
In one of the excerpts, Alice is treated as a form related to Adelais, and another notes that Alexia was sometimes used as a Latin equivalent for Alice in medieval records.
Confidence: mixed. Sources: History of Christian Names, Praenomina; or, the etymology of the principal Christian names of Great Britain and Ireland.