Rowena
roh-WEE-nə
A literary name often explained as meaning “white skirt” in Welsh tradition.
Meaning
The excerpted 19th-century sources mostly connect Rowena with Welsh/Kymric forms such as Ehonwen or rhon-wen, glossed as “white skirt” or “white-tailed.” One source also notes that some writers tried to treat it as Saxon, but the Welsh explanation is presented as the stronger traditional derivation. The name gained wider popularity in English through Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe.
Origin
WelshEnglishfeminine
Fun fact
Scott’s Ivanhoe helped revive Rowena, and the name saw a vogue in both England and America after the novel’s success.