Variant of Audrey, from Old English 'æðel' (noble) and 'þryð' (strength), meaning 'noble strength.'
Audrie is a variant spelling of Audrey, a name with one of the more remarkable etymological and cultural histories in the English language. It descends from the Old English *Æðelþryð*, a compound of *æðel* (noble) and *þryð* (strength) — making it, at its core, a name meaning "noble strength." The seventh-century Saint Æthelthryth of Ely, venerated as Audrey, became one of the most popular saints in medieval England.
She founded the monastery at Ely that would become Ely Cathedral, and her annual fair in the fenlands became famous for selling cheap lace necklaces called "Saint Audrey's laces" — which, over time, became slurred into *tawdry*, the modern English word for cheap or tasteless. A saint's name giving birth to a common adjective is a genuinely extraordinary linguistic legacy. The name experienced a long post-medieval decline before being spectacularly revived in the twentieth century, almost entirely on the strength of one woman: Audrey Hepburn, born Audrey Kathleen Ruston in 1929.
Hepburn's combination of gamine elegance, genuine warmth, and humanitarian commitment transformed the name into a byword for a certain kind of understated, luminous grace. Her performances in *Roman Holiday*, *Breakfast at Tiffany's*, and *Sabrina* made Audrey the aspirational name of postwar girlhood. The spelling Audrie softens the name slightly, giving it a more personal, handwritten quality. It reads as a thoughtful variant — not a misspelling but a choice, one that preserves all the nobility and elegance of the original while stepping slightly aside from the more common form.