Enid ( ; ) is a feminine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

. The origin is

Middle Welsh Middle Welsh ( cy, Cymraeg Canol, wlm, Kymraec) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh ( cy, Hen G ...

''eneit'', meaning "spirit, life" (from

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celti ...

''*ana-ti̯o-'', compare

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium ...

''anatia'' "souls" attested on the

Larzac tablet The Larzac tablet is a lead curse tablet found in 1983 in the commune of L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac, Aveyron, southern France. It is now kept in the museum of Millau. It bears one of the most important inscriptions in the Gaulish language. The inscri ...

, ultimately from the

Proto-Indo-European root The roots of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) are basic parts of words that carry a lexical meaning, so-called morphemes. PIE roots usually have verbal meaning like "to eat" or "to run". Roots never occurred alone in the lan ...

''*h₂enh₁-'' "to breathe, blow"; ''cf.'' the modern Welsh '' anadl'', "breath" or "wind"). Alternatively Enid is derived from ''Enaid'' or ''Enit'' meaning "woodlark". Enid was the Celtic goddess and Arthurian name of the 19th century following

Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

Arthurian King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

epic '' Idylls of the King'' (1859) and its

medieval Welsh Middle Welsh ( cy, Cymraeg Canol, wlm, Kymraec) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh ( cy, Hen ...

source, the ''

Mabinogi The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...

'' tale of ''

Geraint and Enid Geraint () is a character from Welsh folklore and Arthurian legend, a valiant warrior possibly related to the historical Geraint, an early 8th-century king of Dumnonia. It is also the name of a 6th-century Dumnonian saint king from Briton h ...

''. Enid drifted into popular use in Britain in the 1890s, becoming most popular in the 1920s. Then it was the greatest possible compliment to be called a "second Enid", since the original was a legendary romantic figure of spotless perfection and courage in life. Enid was the quiet, brave, steadfast character of Tennyson's poem, loved deeply by many, yet her love or loyalty to her husband was unwavering, even at his worst.

People

Enid Dame Enid Dame (June 28, 1943, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania – December 25, 2003) was an American poet, fiction writer, teacher, editor, and publisher. For many years, she and her husband, poet Donald Lev, lived in Brooklyn and in High Falls, New York ...

(1943–2003), American poet *

Enid Luff Enid Luff (21 February 1935 – 19 February 2022) was a Welsh musician, music educator, and composer. Biography Luff was born in Ebbw Vale, Wales, and trained as a pianist. She was educated at the University of Wales and Cambridge and graduated wi ...

(born 1935), Welsh musician *

Enid Wyn Jones Enid Wyn Jones (17 January 1909 – 15 September 1967) was a Welsh nurse. Jones was born in Wrexham, the daughter of Dr. David Llewelyn Williams and Margaret Williams. Just before World War I, she moved with her family to Cardiff but re-loc ...

(1909–1967), Welsh nurse *

Enid Morgan Enid Morgan is a former international lawn and indoor bowls competitor for Wales. Bowls career In 1977 Morgan won the gold medal in the triples with Margaret Pomeroy and Joan Osborne, a bronze medal in the fours with Pomeroy, Osborne and Jan ...

, Welsh former international lawn and indoor bowls competitor *

Enid MacRobbie Enid Anne Campbell MacRobbie, (born 5 December 1931) is a Scottish plant scientist who is Emeritus Professor of Plant Biophysics at the University of Cambridge and a Life Fellow of Girton College.https://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/people/professor-en ...

(born 1931), Scottish plant scientist *

Enid Riddell Enid Mary Riddell was a British socialite and racing driver during the 1930s and 1940s. She was also a member of some far-right political groups in the United Kingdom and was imprisoned for violating the Official Secrets Act 1911 during the Secon ...

(1903–1980), British socialite and racing driver *

Enid Marx Enid Crystal Dorothy Marx, RDI (20 October 1902 – 18 May 1998), was an English painter and designer, best known for her industrial textile designs for the London Transport Board and the Utility furniture Scheme. Marx was the first female eng ...

(1902–1998), English painter and designer * Enid Stacy (1868–1903), English socialist activist *

Enid Bagnold Enid Algerine Bagnold, Lady Jones, (27 October 1889 – 31 March 1981) was a British writer and playwright known for the 1935 story ''National Velvet''. Early life Enid Algerine Bagnold was born on 27 October 1889 in Rochester, Kent, daughte ...

(1889–1981), British author and playwright * Enid Bakewell (born 1940), English cricketer *

Enid Bennett Enid Eulalie Bennett (15 July 1893 – 14 May 1969) was an Australian silent film actress, mostly active in American film. Early life Bennett was born on 15 July 1893 in York, Western Australia, the daughter of Nellie Mary Louise (''née'' Wa ...

(1893–1969), Australian-born American silent film actress *

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have b ...

(1897–1968), British children's writer *

Enid Campbell Enid Mona Campbell, AC, OBE, FASSA (30 October 1932 – 20 January 2010) was an Australian legal scholar, and was the first female professor and Dean of a law school in Australasia. She is known for her work on constitutional law and administ ...

(1932–2010), Australian legal scholar and law professor * Enid Derham (1882–1941), Australian poet and academic *

Enid Evans Enid Annie Evans (8 October 1914 – 23 May 2011) was one of New Zealand's first women chief librarians. She was the chief librarian of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Library from 1946 to 1970. Biography Early life Evans was born in Gor ...

(1914–2011), New Zealand librarian * Enid Greene (born 1958), American politician *

Enid A. Haupt Enid Haupt ( Annenberg, formerly Bensinger; May 13, 1906 – October 25, 2005) was an American publisher and philanthropist whose gifts supported horticulture, the arts, architectural and historic preservation, and cancer research. She has been de ...

(1906–2005), American publisher and philanthropist *

Enid Kent Enid Kent (born January 14, 1945) is an American actress. She was born to William Kent, a German-Jewish immigrant, insurance broker and refugee from Hitler's Nazi regime in the late 1930s, and Irene Tedrow, a veteran American actress of radio ...

, played Nurse Bigelow, a recurring character in the television series ''M*A*S*H'' * Enid Bosworth Lorimer (1887–1982), Australian actress and director *

Enid Charles Enid Charles (29 December 1894 – 26 March 1972) was a British socialist, feminist and statistician who was a pioneer in the fields of demography and population statistics. She was born Dorothy Enid Charles in Denbigh, Wales. She obtained a bach ...

(1894–1972), British socialist, feminist and statistician * Enid Mark (1932–2008), American editor and publisher * Enid Legros-Wise (born 1943), Canadian ceramic artist *

Enid Lyons Dame Enid Muriel Lyons (née Burnell; 9 July 1897 – 2 September 1981) was an Australian politician who was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives and the first woman to serve in federal cabinet. Prior to her own political ca ...

(1897–1981), Australian politician and wife of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons *

Enid Markey Enid Markey (February 22, 1894 – November 15, 1981) was an American theatre, film, radio, and television actress, whose career spanned over 50 years, extending from the early 1900s to the late 1960s. In movies, she was the first performer ...

(1894–1981), American actress * Enid Johnson Macleod (1909–2001), Canadian anaesthetist, medical doctor and academic *

(born 1931), Scottish plant scientist *

Enid Mumford Enid Mumford (6 March 1924 – 7 April 2006) was a British social scientist, computer scientist and Professor Emerita of Manchester University and a visiting fellow at Manchester Business School, largely known for her work on human factors and ...

(1924–2006), British professor largely known for her work on human factors and socio-technical systems *

Enid Nemy Enid Nemy (born 1924) was a reporter and columnist for ''The New York Times'' for many years. She began at the Times in 1963, and remained for four decades before retiring. She was awarded the 1984 Matrix Award ''"for achievement in newspapers and w ...

, reporter and columnist for ''The New York Times'' * Enid

Diana Rigg Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg (20 July 193810 September 2020) was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series '' The Avengers'' (1965–1968); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in ''On H ...

(1938–2020), English actress * Enid Lapthorn (1889–1967), British politician *

Enid Starkie Enid Mary Starkie CBE (18 August 1897 – 21 April 1970), was an Irish literary critic, known for her biographical works on French poets. She was a Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford, and Lecturer and then Reader in the University. Early life ...

(1897–1970), Irish literary critic *

Enid Stamp Taylor Enid Georgiana Stamp Taylor (12 June 1904 – 13 January 1946) was an English actress. Her childhood home was 17, Percy Avenue, in Whitley Bay, Northumberland, in what is now Tyne and Wear. Taylor first became known when she won a beauty pa ...

(1904–1946), English actress *

Enid Yandell Enid Yandell (October 6, 1869 – June 12, 1934) was an American sculptor from Louisville, Kentucky who studied with Auguste Rodin in Paris, Philip Martiny in New York City, and Frederick William MacMonnies. Yandell specialized in portrait bus ...

(1870–1934), American sculptor * Enid Tahirović (born 1972), Bosnian handball goalkeeper *

(born 1945), American former television actress * Enid Shomer, American poet * Enid Gilchrist, Australian fashion designer *

Enid Bishop Enid Bishop (born 8 May 1925) is an Australian librarian specialising in Asian studies. Biography Born in 1925 in Melbourne, Enid Bishop is the daughter of Horace Eddy and Lillian Alice (née McKittrick) Bishop. She attended Huntingtower School ...

(born 1925), Australian librarian * Enid Lakeman (1903–1995), British political reformer, writer and politician * Enid Crow (born 1968), American feminist artist *

Enid Hibbard Enid Hibbard (born Enid Burke) was an American screenwriter active during the 1920s. Biography Enid Burke, sometimes referred to by her childhood nickname, Nana, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father died when she was young, and her mother, ...

(1889–1960), American screenwriter *

Enid Greene Mickelsen Enid Greene Mickelsen, formerly Enid Greene Waldholtz (born June 5, 1958), is an American politician from the U.S. state, state of Utah who served one term in the United States House of Representatives. She was the third woman and first Republica ...

(born 1958), American politician *

Enid Hattersley Enid Anne Hattersley (''née'' Brackenbury; previously O'Hara; 19 September 1904 – 17 May 2001) was a Labour Party politician from Sheffield, England, who became the city's Lord Mayor in 1981. Early years Hattersley was born in Shirebrook, Nott ...

(1904–2001), British politician * Enid Tapsell (1903–1975), New Zealander nurse, community leader, writer and local politician *

Enid Szánthó Enid Szánthó (15 March 1907 – 1997, buried 21 April 1997) was a Hungarian operatic contralto. From 1928, she belonged to the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera and appeared at the Bayreuth Festival from 1930, first as Erda in ''Der Ring des N ...

(1907–1997), Hungarian opera singer * Enid Bakashaba (born 1993), Ugandan Telecom Engineer

Fictional characters

* Enid, a character in '' OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'' * Enid, a character in ''The Walking Dead'' * " Enid", a Barenaked Ladies song * Enid or "

Enide Enide ( cy, Enid) is a character in Arthurian romance. She is the wife of Erec in Chrétien de Troyes' '' Erec and Enide'', and the wife of Geraint in the Welsh romance of ''Geraint and Enid'' analogous to Chrétien's version. Some scholars be ...

" (an

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

variant of ''Enid''), a heroine in

Arthurian legend The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...

s * Enid, great-aunt of Neville Longbottom from

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The ser ...

's '' Harry Potter'' series *E nid an Gleanna (Daisy of the Valleys), an alias of Francesca Findabair, a character in ''

The Witcher ''The Witcher'' ( pl, Wiedźmin ) is a series of six fantasy novels and 15 short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the eponymous "witcher", Geralt of Rivia. In Sapkowski's works, "witchers" are be ...

'' saga by Polish author

Andrzej Sapkowski Andrzej Sapkowski (; born 21 June 1948) is a Polish fantasy writer, essayist, translator and a trained economist. He is best known for his six-volume series of books '' The Witcher'', which revolves around the eponymous "witcher," a monster-hun ...

. * Enid Coleslaw, the lead character of the 1997 comic book '' Ghost World'' and its 2001 film adaptation * Tracy Enid Flick, character in the 1998 novel

Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

and 1999 film portrayed by

Reese Witherspoon Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...

* Enid Frick, editor of ''Vogue'' magazine on TV's ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...

'' * Enid Wexler, a feminist law student in the movie ''

Legally Blonde ''Legally Blonde'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic in his feature-length directorial debut, and scripted by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith from Amanda Brown's 2001 novel of the same name. It stars Reese Wit ...

'' (2001) * Enid Kelso, character in TV's '' Scrubs'' *

Enid Nightshade ''The Worst Witch'' is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Jill Murphy. They have been adapted into various films and television shows. Mildred Hubble :Series Duration: 1998–2001, 2005 Mildred Hubble is the titular charact ...

, a character in ''The Worst Witch'' series of children's books * Enid Rollins, a best friend of twin in the ''

Sweet Valley High ''Sweet Valley High'' is a series of young adult novels attributed to American author Francine Pascal, who presided over a team of ghostwriters to produce the series. The books chronicle the lives of identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefi ...

'' and ''Sweet Valley University'' book series and

TV show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed bet ...

. * Enid Sinclair, a supporting eccentric werewolf character in ''Wednesday'' (2022)

Places

* Enid, city in Oklahoma *

Enid Lake Enid Lake is a lake that is located mostly in Yalobusha County in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Parts of it extend into Panola and Lafayette counties. Common fish species include crappie, largemouth bass, catfish and bream. Enid Lake holds th ...

, lake in Mississippi * Enid Lake, small lake in Oregon on Mount Hood, popular with snowshoers

References

{{given name English feminine given names Welsh feminine given names