English use
Source-reportedA diminutive of the female given name Penelope.
Source for this definition
- Pen — English definition (English Wiktionary via Kaikki)CC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
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A given name in English
Language context for this entry: English
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01 / Meaning & origin
Pen is a feminine given name documented in English.
These definitions describe particular language uses. They are separate from literal name meanings.
A diminutive of the female given name Penelope.
02 / Across borders
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Documented as a given name in English.
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03 / By the numbers
Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.
No official statistics are imported for this spelling. No statistical dataset covering this spelling has been imported yet. See data coverage.
04 / Through time
Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.
Pen— “weaver”
…Italians talked of Uliseo, and Fenelon taught the French to honour his favourite hero as _le fils du grand Ulisse_; but the only place where the name is now used is Ireland, probably as a classicalism for the Danish legacy of Ulick—Hugleik, or mind reward. The Irish Finnghuala (white shoulders) was not content with the gentle native softenings of her name into Fenella and Nuala, but must needs translate herself into Penelope; and it is to this that we owe the numerous…
…Italians talked of Uliseo, and Fenelon taught the French to honour his favourite hero as _le fils du grand Ulisse_; but the only place where the name is now used is Ireland, probably as a classicalism for the Danish legacy of Ulick—Hugleik, or mind reward. The Irish Finnghuala (white shoulders) was not content with the gentle native softenings of her name into Fenella and Nuala, but must needs translate herself into Penelope; and it is to this that we owe the numerous Penelopes of England, down from the Irish Penelope Devereux, with whom is connected the one shade on Sidney’s character, to the Pen and Penny so frequent in many families.
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part III, Chapter II (Names From Greek Mythology), Section X (Heroic Names) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)
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06 / Behind the facts
Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-17.
Wiktionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata: CC0. Commons recordings retain their individual file licences. Complete attribution is available in each group above and alongside each chart.
