Althea
{{Short description|Feminine given name}}
{{about|the given name}}
{{Infobox given name2
| name = Althea
| image=
| image_size=
| caption=
| pronunciation= stress on the first syllable (British) or second syllable (American)
| gender = Female
| meaning = healer, wholesome
| language = Greek
}}
Althea ({{langx|ang|Alþea}}) is an English female given name. It is a variation of the Greek name Althaea (Αλθαια), which may be related to Greek {{lang|grc|ἀλθος}} althos ("healing").
Richard Lovelace used the name in a poem ("To Althea, from Prison") that John Milton later alluded to in his own poem "Lycidas".Milton, John (1886). Homer Baxter Sprague, ed. [https://books.google.com/books?id=xwo1AAAAMAAJ&dq=lycidas+althea&pg=RA1-PA15 "Milton's Lycidas"]. Paradise Lost, Books I and II. Boston: Ginn & Co.
Notable people
- Althea Braithwaite (1940–2020), English children's author, illustrator, publisher and glass artist
- Althea Bridges (born 1936), Australian opera singer and music teacher
- Althea Currier (born 1941), American glamor model and actress
- Althea Flynt (1953–1987), fourth wife of Larry Flynt
- Althea Gibson (1927–2003), American female athlete
- Althea Forrest, one half of vocal duo Althea & Donna
- Althea McNish (1924–2020), British textile designer of Trinidadian origin
- Althea G. Quimby (1858-1942), American temperance leader
- Althea Reinhardt (born 1996), Danish handball player
- Althea Thauberger, Canadian artist
- Althea Wynne (1936–2012), English sculptor
- Althea Rae Janairo, actress aka Tia Carrere
- Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Trinidadian physician and research scientist, leader of the British Black Panther Movement
See also
- "Althea", a song on the Grateful Dead studio album Go to Heaven
- Althaea officinalis, also called althea or marsh mallow, a perennial species indigenous to Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa used in herbalism and as an ornamental plant
- Hibiscus syriacus, also called althea, rose of Sharon or rose mallow, a perennial species indigenous to East Asia used in herbalism and as an ornamental plant
- Cyclone Althea (1971)
- Ethinylestradiol/cyproterone acetate, a birth control pill with brand name Althea