Not that I don't like this name, but I have a pet rat and I named him Pepe. It took me a few days to realize why my Mexican friend Jose was annoyed at me.
-- Anonymous User 3/3/2007
Pepe comes from the acronym P. P. meaning Pater Putativus (putative father) that was used to refer to Saint Joseph as the putative father of Jesus.
-- Anonymous User 4/22/2007
Pepe the Prawn is one of the Muppets. He was first introduced in the 1996 TV show Muppets Tonight and is known for saying, "I am not a shrimp, I am a King Prawn!"
It's a tremendously cute nickname, and it was actually one of my nicknames that my parents used for me when I was a kid. It came from some type of children's program, as my name is nothing like Pepe (it's Marianne). However, it sounds totally infantile on anyone past the age of 12, I'd say.
It is thought it comes from the Latin inscription associated with Joseph (Virgin Mary's husband), which is "pater putativus", which sort of means "adoptive father" or (more accurately) "considered father (but isn't)". Hence "pp", pronounced in Spanish "Pepe".
Another popular etymology is that Pepe is a reduced form of "Jusepe", the old Spansih form of "José" (Joseph). This is the most widely accepted among experts.