Name of the Week: Grace

 

 

 

Origin:

Grace is a given name taken from English vocabulary. The noun grace derives from the Old French grace "pardon, mercy, favour, thanks, elegance, virtue," which itself comes from the Latin gratia "favour, good will, kindness, esteem, regard, pleasing, agreeable, gratitude." From at least the 13th century, we find the word used in the context of something received from God to give strength to endure a trial i.e. divine grace. By the 14th century, it was also used to mean an attractive personal quality – an elegant, refined, or accomplished mode of behaviour.* In ancient Greek and Roman mythology, The Graces (Charites in Greek; Gratiae in Latin) was the name given to a group of goddesses of beauty, charm, joy and festivity. Their number differed according to sources and sites of worship, but generally there were three – Aglaia (glory, splendour), Euphrosyne (good cheer, mirth) and Thalia (plentiful, festivity, blooming). Charis / Gratia alone was used to refer to the divine personification of beauty and refinement.

Usage:

Generally, Grace is considered to have first been used by the Puritans in the 17th century, but the truth is that Grace was already firmly established as a given name before this. Gracia and Gratia can be found as Latinised forms in the Middle Ages – as well as Grecia, Gracye, Grece, Grecie and Gricia – with Grace and Grece as vernacular English forms. These latter spellings suggest that the name may have been a Latinised form of an Old Germanic name, possibly deriving from grisja "grey" or as a short form of a name which contained this element such as Griselda. The form Gratia, however, indicates that either the name was conflated with "grace" or perhaps we are dealing with distinct names. In A Dictionary of English Surnames (p201-2), Reaney and Wilson argue that it was scribes who popularly associated this unknown Germanic name with grace: Either way, Gracia/Grace was not particularly common in the Middle Ages. It does not rank at all in George Redmonds' top 50 names from the poll tax returns of ten English counties 1377-81 for example, though he does note a few examples of the name found in Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk.* By the 16th century, the name had grown considerably in usage, as we can see from Smith Bannister's rank of top 50 names from 1538 to 1700 in England : 1538-49: #30; 1550-9: #28; 1560-9: #26; 1570-9: #28; 1580-9: #29; 1590-9: #18; 1600-9: #17; 1610-9: #15; 1620-9: #13; 1630-9: #16; 1640-9: #16; 1650-9: #17; 1660-9: #15; 1670-9: #17; 1680-9: #13; 1690-1700: #14.  In Redmond's study of 300 female baptisms from Halifax and Leeds from 1590-1592, Grace ranked #3 in Halifax and #5 in Leeds, showing how popular the name was locally in Yorkshire. This he attributes to its use by powerful and influential Yorkshire families such as the Saviles and Broadleys among whose contemporaries and neighbours the name spread.*  It was also #20 in Elizabethan Norfolk (1558 -1603). By the "Puritan Age" (1600-1660), Grace was a firm top 20 staple across England. And, though the Puritans can't be credited with introducing and creating the name, it is clear why the name would have appealed with its association with divine salvation. Grace's use also paved the way for other virtue names in the late 16th century.  As George Redmonds (p153) puts it:  "It is more than likely also that [Grace] helped other abstract nouns to become acceptable as names, some time before the Puritans found them attractive. Smith-Bannister has Charity in the 1540s and Bardsley found Patience being used in Cornwall in 1549; in the same year Fayth, the wife of Richard Smith, was buried at Howden in East Yorkshire. [...] From the 1560s, the use of such names increased, at least in some parishes, and some of these are likely to have been Puritan innovations. [...] In most parishes though such names remained occasional choices and only Grace was at all popular generally. [...] Once the precedent had been set many more names of the same type came into use, for example Hope, Silence, Peace, Comfort and Unity, but as these in their turn became accepted, more adventurous choices were made, including Repentance, Temperance, Reconciliation and Discretion. The majority of these were given to girls of course, and they appear to have been most popular with Puritans, but it has been noted that Grace was also used occasionally for men and among Catholics, so assumptions are dangerous and the evidence needs to be studied carefully in each case." Grace's momentum continued in the following centuries. According to Leslie Dunkling's ranks, Grace was #17 in 1700 and #27 in 1800.  Birth rankings in England and Wales: 1850: #45 1860: #55 1870: #59 1880: #50 1890: #49 1900: #42 1904: #38 1914: #42 1924: #51 1934: #81 Grace fell out of the top 100 in England and Wales after 1938 and didn't return again until the 1990s. Such a long run in the top 50 had taken its toll and even the fame of Hollywood actress Grace Kelly (1929-1982) in the 1950s and her high-profile royal marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco wasn't enough to revive the name's fortune.  In Scotland, however, Grace stayed in the top 100 a little longer, having ranked #22 in 1900 and #58 in 1950. It was below the top 200 by 1975, however, but returned to the top 100 at #84 in 1999.  In the 1990s, Grace returned to the top 100 in England and Wales, ranking #41 (1421 births) in 1996. By 2002 it was #19 (2519 births) and quickly rocketed up to #11 (3393 births) in 2004, #7 (3653 births) in 2005 and peaked at #1 (5026 births) the following year in 2006.  Afterwards it began to steadily recline.  In 2016, Grace ranked #15 (2498 births) in England and Wales; #11 (257 births) in Scotland and #2 (198 births) in Northern Ireland.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Grace Mildmay (c. 1552–1620), English noblewoman, diarist and medical practitioner. * Grace Elliott (1754–1823), Scottish socialite and spy. * Grace Kennedy (1782–1825), Scottish writer. * Grace Darling (1815–1842), English heroine, involved in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked Forfarshire in 1838. * Grace Frankland (1858–1946), English microbiologist. * Grace Bussell (1860–1935), Australian heroine, involved in the rescue of the SS Georgette. * Grace Raymond Hebard (1861–1936), American historian, suffragist, writer and political economist. * Grace Livingston Hill (1865–1947), American novelist. * Grace Hudson (1865–1937), American painter. * Grace Benham (1876–1968), American silent film actress. * Grace Valentine (1884–1964), American actress. * Grace Drummond-Hay (1895–1946), British journalist and aviation pioneer. * Grace Arnold (1899–1979), British actress. * Grace Bradley (1913–2010), American film actress. * Grace Kelly (1929-1982), American actress and princess consort of Monaco.  * Grace Jantzen (1948–2006), feminist philosopher and theologian. Contemporary: * Grace Cavalieri (born 1932), American poet, playwright and broadcaster. * Grace Jones (born 1948), Jamaican-born singer, actress and model. * Grace Woodward (born 1978), British fashion stylist and television presenter. * Grace Cassidy (born 1993), British actress. Literature and Other Media: * Grace Cavendish, detective and the central character in the Lady Grace Mysteries. * Grace Jeddler, character in Charles Dicken's novella The Battle of Life (1846). * Grace Adler, character in the television comedy series Will and Grace. * Grace Holloway, character in the 1996 television movie Doctor Who.

Variants:

Gratia (German), Gracia (Spanish), Grazia (Italian), Graça (Portuguese), Gracja (Polish), Grayse (Manx)

Pronunciation:

GRAYS [key]

Possible  Diminutives:

Gracie, Gray

Sibling Names:

Lily     Phoebe     Isabel     Sophie     Emily     Lucy           James     Leo     Oliver     Henry     Max     Harry

Name Lists:

Dulcet Dainties  Terrifically Tudor  Gorgeously Georgian   Victorian Darlings   Dickensian Names   Bronte Names   Golden Age Hollywood   Names of Roses

 

If you like Grace you may also like:   May, Rose, Alice, Tess, Hope, Kate, Eve, Daisy, Esme, Annie

Thanks to Liz for requesting this name.