Pippa (given name)

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Pippa
Pippa Passes, an 1854 illustration by Elizabeth Siddal for Robert Browning's Pippa Passes.
PronunciationPIP-a
GenderFeminine
Origin
Word/nameGreek
Meaninglover of horses
Region of originEnglish
Other names
Variant form(s)Pip, Pipa
Related namesBridget, Philip, Philippa, Philippe, Philippine, Pirkko
Pippa Middleton, center, with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex following the 2011 wedding of William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales.
American actress Pippa Scott in 1960.

Pippa is a feminine given name and a short form, usually of Philippa. It came into greater use as an independent name in the Anglosphere following the publication of the 1841 verse drama Pippa Passes by English poet Robert Browning with the well-known lines "God's in his heaven— / All's right with the world!" The character was an innocent Italian girl, though the name is not in common use as a given name in Italy.[1]

Cultural connotations[edit]

The name Philippa, or Philip in its vernacular form for both men and women, was used in the British royal family in medieval times. Philippa of Hainault was an early bearer. Pip and Pippa were traditional diminutives of the name. These early associations give the name a classic image with upperclass associations in the Anglosphere.[2] The name has sexual connotations in other cultures. Pippa is a Swedish crude slang term for sexual intercourse and an Italian slang word for masturbation. A similar sounding word in Greek, πίπα, is a crude Greek slang term for fellatio.[3]

Usage[edit]

The name has ranked among the top 1,000 names for newborn girls in the United Kingdom since 1996 and among the top 200 since 2012, the year after the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, at which Pippa Middleton served as her sister's maid of honor and was much photographed and her attractiveness was much commented upon.[4]

People[edit]

Surname[edit]

  • Poppy Bermúdez, born José Armando Bermúdez Pippa (1928-2014), Argentine-born Dominican businessman
  • Rosalba Pippa (born 1982), Italian musical performer

Fictional characters[edit]

See also[edit]

  • 648 Pippa, a minor planet orbiting the Sun
  • Pippa (doll), a fashion doll manufactured by British toymaker Palitoy between 1972 and 1980
  • Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo, known as Pippa Bacca (1974-2008), Italian performance and feminist artist and murder victim
  • Philippa
  • Pippo

References[edit]

  1. ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. p. 221. ISBN 0-19-861060-2.
  2. ^ https://www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2012/05/philippa.html
  3. ^ "19 Baby Names That Might Raise Eyebrows in Other Languages". 27 February 2018.
  4. ^ "Fifty Shades of Grey, Macbooks, and Pippa Middleton Inspired 2012's Trending Baby Names". Vanity Fair. 30 November 2012.