Gladys (given name)

Gladys or Gladice is a female name from the Welsh name Gwladus or Gwladys, which bears the meaning of royalty (princess) or the gladiolus flower.

It has been sometimes used as a Welsh form of Claudia.

People

• Gladys Aylward (1902–1970), English missionary to China
• Gladys E. Banks (1897–1972), New York politician
• Gladys Berejiklian, Australian politician
• Gladys Brockwell, American actress
• Gladys Bustamante (1912–2009), Jamaican activist
• Gladys Cooper, English actress
• Gladys Fries Harriman (1896–1983), an American philanthropist, equestrian and big game hunter
• Gladys Knight (born 1944), American singer and actress
• Gladys Rich (1904–1994), American composer
• Gladys Vanderbilt Széchenyi, American heiress and wife of Count László Széchenyi
• Gladys Yang (1919–1999), Sino-British translator
• Gladys Wanjiku (born 1990), God's child, Kenya

Fictional characters

• Gladys Hotchkiss, a character in the musical The Pajama Game
• Gladys Emmanuel, a character in the BBC sitcom Open All Hours
• Gladys Kravitz, a character in the TV show Bewitched
• Gladys Pugh, Chief Yellowcoat, a character in the BBC comedy Hi-de-Hi!
• Gladys Porter, a character in the TV sitcom Pete and Gladys
• Gladys, a character in the HBO drama The Leftovers