Comments (Meaning / History Only)

‘Rowena’ is Celtic (or Welsh), meaning: fair, slender, white haired/blonde. My parents chose it for me from Sir Walter Scott’s novel ‘Ivanhoe’ but it also fits me well, physically, since I am tall with a slender build and (naturally) blonde.
It is pronounced as this site states, the emphasis on the middle syllable and the ‘w’ is silent. I go by ‘Ro’ as a nickname, which I prefer for its anonymity (only one person has ever correctly guessed my true first name, others assume it is short for ‘Roberta’ and other more common names beginning with ‘Ro’).
I absolutely love the Urban Dictionary’s most popular meaning of ‘Rowena’! In fact, so much that I purchased a mug through the site with my name on one side and the ‘definition’ on the other. My favorite mug now. ;) Another meaning I have seen (much less often): ‘friendly’.
Another interpretation of Rowena is suggested to be taken from Old English Hröðwyn or from British ron 'spear, lance' + (g)wen 'bright'. However, those theories are based only on similarity of pronunciation.
Possible Welsh Gaelic connection, from the name 'Rhonwen' thought to mean 'white mane' extrapolated from rhawn = horsehair, wyn = white.
Nennius apparently names the daughter of Hengest as Romwenna. At this level however the genealogies are much later fabrications (giving Saxon pedigrees to families which were originally British), and the only known Rom- names of the era are clear adaptations of Romanus and Romulus. E.A. Freeman (A History of the Norman Conquest) describes Geoffrey of Monmouth's "Rowena" as "a later absurdity".
Often used as a feminine form of Rowan, although the names have no connection.
Rowena in the Arthurian legends was the wife of King Vortigern. She was always said to be very beautiful and intelligent and defended her people when he sought them out to kill them.

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