| Penelope is of Greek origin. Penelope was the name of Ulysses'
wife who waited for him while he was gone on his travels. She
supposedly sat and wove one thing over and over again while she
waited for him to return. I think that, because of this, Penelope
means something such as one who waits, or one who weaves or somesuch.
When I was a teenager I used to babysit for a little girl named
Penelope. I've always liked the name.
Lorna
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| As a new noter, bear with me if I screw up.
I, myself, am a Penelope. As Lorna pointed out, it does have origins
from greek mythology. I was always told that it meant "faithful"
and "weaver", for the obvious reasons. Penelope sat for years weaving
and waiting for Ulysses to return, spurning the advances of many
suitors.
I love my name, much to the surprise of a lot of folks who offer
me their condolences when I tell them I'm a Penelope. I usually
hear this from people with incredibly common names !
The only problem is I do get called Penny all the time, despite
the fact that I go by Penelope. I knew to many horses and dogs called
Penny when I was a kid. At 33, people are finally taking me seriously
when I say I want to be called Penelope.
Anyway, I thinks its a great name with some great Greek mythology
to go along with it.
ps. Penelope is quite a bit more common in England than in this
country. When I travel there to see the relatives, my name doesn't
seem at all unusual.
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| I've borrowed Cliff's book so now I have some data on these names. More
data than I'd like to write but here's some of the info on Penelope.
From Greek Penelopeia:
One theory connects it to pene meaning 'a bobbin'. In the Greek story,
Ulysses' wife's name was Penelope and when he was absent and assumed to
be dead, she told her "would-be wooers" that she couldn't consider
another husband until she finished weaving a shround for her
father-in-law. Every day she wove it, and at night she unravelled it.
(This is probably where the "faithful" definition came from.
Another theory connects it to penelops, a kind of bird, saying that
Penelope loved and fed such birds.
Nicknames are Penny-Penney-Pennie, which supposedly originated in the
U.S. and Nappy, which is used in Ireland.
Statistics show that the name Penelope hasn't been used much in
this century.
(this is a great book - paperback - "The New American Dictionary
of First Names" by Leslie Dunkling & William Gosling)
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