ELIZABETH GRACE

The usual spelling of Elisabeth in English. It is recorded in the medieval period, but was made popular by being borne by Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603). In the 20th century it again became extremely fashionable, partly because it was the name of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1900–2002), who in 1936 became Queen Elizabeth as the wife of King George VI, and after his death in 1952 achieved great public affection as Queen Mother for nearly half a century. Even more influentially, it is the name of her daughter Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926).

English: 1. nickname from Middle English, Old French grace ‘charm’, ‘pleasantness’ (Latin gratia). 2. from the female personal name Grace, which was popular in the Middle Ages. This seems in the first instance to have been from a Germanic element grīs ‘gray’ (see Grice 1), but was soon associated by folk etymology with the Latin word meaning ‘charm’.