A female name. Greek Πηνελόπη, Πηνελόπεια (said to be connected with πήνη ‘a bobbin’), the name of the faithful wife of Odysseus. It was first used as a christian name in the 16th C, e.g. Penelope (1362-1607) d. of William Devereux, Earl of Essex, wife of Lord Rich and the Stella of Sir Philip Sidney. Penelope has never been common but has been used regularly since its introduction. It is rather more frequent in Ireland where it was used to render the native name Fionnghuala (see Fenella). It is sometimes abbreviated to Pen or Penny.

Greek, ‘a weaver,’ such being the name applied, legend-wise after the event, to her whom we know as Penelope, that wife of Ulysses who, with a guile worthy of her errant lord (‘evil communications...’), span in the day and unravelled at night the large robe that she was dutifully and conveniently making for her aged father-in-law. (It is pleasant to ignore the aspersions cast by the more slanderous of gossipy chroniclers.) The name, owing to its ‘visual’ difficulties, has been avoided by the illiterate; I once heard a charwoman pronounce it as Penny-lope.

The Greek name Πηνελοπη, in Homer frequently Πηνελοπια, and in the Doric dialect Πηνελοπα. Some render it ‘female weaver’ (textrix); others derive it from πηνα a web, and λοπος a garment, because the wife of Ulysses was the best weaveress; or from πηνελοψ, a variegated species of duck (Anas Penelope), because, being exposed by her parents, Penelope was brought up by these birds; or because she was fond of them, and carefully fed them.

Greek (feminine) - A worker in cloth, or a silent worker.

A Greek name, meaning: A weaver.