• Penelope

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: en, /pɨˈnÉ›lÉ™pi/

    Origin

    From Ancient Greek Πηνελόπη, possibly from πηνέλοψ ("duck").

    Full definition of Penelope

    Proper noun

    Penelope

    (plural Penelopes)
    1. (Greek mythology) The faithful wife of Odysseus.
      • ~1608 William Shakespeare: Coriolanus: Act I, Scene III:You would be another Penelope; yet, they say, all the yarn she spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca with moths.
    2. .
      • 1967 Joan G. Robinson, When Marnie Was There, HarperCollins (2014), , page 194:"She's a sort of pretend auntie - an old friend of Mummy's. Her real name's Miss Penelope Gill but we always call her Gillie.""Don't you ever let her hear you calling her Penelope!" said Mrs Lindsay, laughing. "She hates the name, though really I can't see why. I suppose it wasn't so fashionable when she was young."
      • 2004 Alice Munro, Runaway:Stories, Knopf (2004), page 93:"What's her name?" He meant the baby's. "Penelope. We're never going to call her Penny. Penelope." - - - ""Oh. Well, it's Penelope Henderson - Porteous I guess. Or Porteous - Henderson. But maybe that's too much of a mouthful, when she's already called Penelope? We knew that we wanted Penelope. We'll have to settle it somehow."
    3. .

    Usage notes

    Popular given name in the U.K. in the 1950s and the 1960s.

    Derived terms

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