Aubrey is the Norman French form of the Germanic Alberich and means "elf ruler" or "elf power"; it was a boys' name in medieval England. The soft 1972 hit Aubrey by the band Bread helped turn it into a girls' name in America. Aubrey climbed from number 223 in 2000 into the top 100 in 2006 and all the way to number 15 in 2012; it left the top 100 in 2023 and ranks 146th in 2025.