Adelaide is the French form of the Germanic Adalheidis and means "of noble kind" or "noble natured", from adal, noble, and heid, kind. Saint Adelaide was a 10th-century empress, and the Australian city was named after Queen Adelaide, wife of William IV. In the United States the name returned to the top 1000 in 2005, peaked at number 255 in 2016 and ranks 289th among girls' names in 2025.