Millie

The name Mildred owes its survival to Saint Mildred of Thanet (c. 660-730), an Anglo-Saxon abbess of Minster-in-Thanet in Kent and granddaughter of King Penda of Mercia.

Her cult flourished in medieval England, and her relics were translated to Canterbury in the eleventh century.

Millicent gained royal stature through Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem (1105-1161), one of the most powerful female rulers of the Crusader states, who governed the kingdom for over two decades.

The diminutive Millie became an independent given name in Victorian England, when nickname forms gained respectability of their own.

Literary visibility came through Henry James’s heroine Milly Theale in The Wings of the Dove (1902) and through the Julie Andrews film Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), later adapted into a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical.

The British actress Millie Bobby Brown, famous for her role as Eleven in Stranger Things (2016 onward), has been the principal modern driver of the name’s revival.

Millie ranked inside the United States Social Security Administration top 200 throughout the late nineteenth century, peaking at 104th in 1880. It declined steadily through the twentieth century and dropped out of the top 1,000 between 1968 and 2007.

It re-entered the rankings in 2008 at 931st and has since climbed back to the top 400. In England and Wales the name has been far more popular, regularly placing inside the top 30.

Notable bearers include Australian author Millie Bobby Brown in fiction circles and tennis player Millie Taylor, while the name remains a staple of the broader vintage revival alongside Maisie, Nellie, and Hattie.