Adrienne

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A feminine first name of French origin, borne by women and sometimes shortened to forms such as Adri or Addie
2. A female personal name of French derivation, used as a given name for girls and women in English-speaking countries
3. A woman's first name that comes from the French tradition, often associated with the Latin word for the Adriatic region

Etymology: "Adrienne" is the feminine form of "Adrien," the French equivalent of "Adrian." Adrian itself goes back to the Latin name "Hadrianus," which was a family name from the Roman town of Hadria (also called Adria), on the Adriatic coast of Italy. The town gave its name to the sea beside it, and the Latin name was then carried into French as "Adrien." The feminine "Adrienne" follows the usual French pattern of adding an -e (with the -n doubled) to a masculine name to make it female. English speakers met the name mainly through French forms, so it reached them as a French name rather than through the English "Adrian" form.