néeadj.
/neɪ/, U.S. /neɪ/ 1. Placed before a married woman's maiden name: originally called; born with the name.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > naming > name or appellation > [adjective] > née
née1758
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > married person > married woman > [adjective] > referring to former name
née1758
that was1785
1758 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 27 Nov. (1967) III. 192 The advantage of being casually admitted in the train of Madame de B., née O.
1831 M. Edgeworth Let. 30 Apr. (1971) 529 This Abroad & at Home is by Mrs. Eaton née Waldy.
1848 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair xlviii. 429 The interview between Rebecca Crawley, née Sharp, and her Imperial Master.
a1878 C. J. Mathews My Awful Dad (1881) i. i. 29 You shall sit next to Evangeline Clara Vere de Vere, nee Tadpole, the grand double-jointed sentimental comic clog and pump dancer.
1919 T. S. Eliot Sweeney among Nightingales in Poems Rachel née Rabinovitch Tears at the grapes with murderous paws.
1955 Times 2 July 8/7 He married, after divorce proceedings, Mary Barrie (née Ansell), by whom he was, himself, subsequently divorced.
2000 Daily Tel. 6 July 27/3 Environmental activist Tracy Worcester (née Ward) was given her first name because ‘Mummy had seen the film High Society’ in which Grace Kelly portrays..Tracy Lord.
2. In extended use. Placed (often humorously or for effect) after the current name or title by which a person, place, etc., is known: formerly known as; originally called. Cf. né adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > antecedence or being earlier > [adjective] > formerly known as
né1937
née1958
1958 Internat. Jrnl. Amer. Linguistics 24 273 (heading) On Tagmemes, née gramemes.
1970 W. Halstead & W. Rucker in W. Byrne Molecular Approaches to Learning & Memory 6 (heading) Behavioral modification, née transfer of training.
1981 W. Safire in N.Y. Times Mag. 12 Apr. 16/4 The flight attendant, née stewardess, singsongs over the loudspeaker.
1988 Los Angeles Times 1 Sept. iii. 1/1 He once had a coach, the infamous Johnny Blood (nee McNally).
1994 Minnesota Monthly July 18/3 Stop by Markplatz (nee Peavey Plaza) for another round of..great ethnic eats.
2001 U.S. News & World Rep. 10 Sept. 70/2 Slimehead..and fellow latecomer Chilean sea bass (née Patagonian toothfish) have been virtually eliminated from much of their range.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1758