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Contribute to, or edit, this collection of community wisdom on the name Philomena!

Comments and insights on the name Philomena: | Edit

The name is unusual and sophisticated. Sounds like a smart girl.

Personal experiences with the name Philomena: | Edit

All Philomenas are graced with beauty and intelligence...a gift from St. Philomena!

Nicknames for Philomena: | Edit

Elena, Ella, Elle, Emily, Ellie, Mia, Mena, Mina, Pip, Pippa, Lola, Polly, Mimi, Faline, Emmy, Lena, Molly, Paloma

Meanings and history of the name Philomena: | Edit

Actually, Philomena comes from the Greek philomênê, which means "loved", it's the past participle of the verb philein, meaning "to love". The meaning "lover of strength" is often given, but is incorrect.

Also, from the Latin, it means "Daughter of the Light"

Famous real-life people named Philomena: | Edit

Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton, OBE, actress

Philomena in song, story & screen: | Edit

The famous poem in which Henry Wadsworth Longfellow coins the term "lady with the lamp."

Saint Philomena is a patron of the sick.

Santa Filomena

Whene'er a noble deed is wrought,
Whene'er is spoken a noble thought,
Our hearts, in glad surprise,
To higher levels rise.

The tidal wave of deeper souls
Into our inmost being rolls,
And lifts us unawares
Out of all meaner cares.

Honor to those whose words or deeds
Thus help us in our daily needs,
And by their overflow
Raise us from what is low!

Thus thought I, as by night I read
Of the great army of the dead,
The trenches cold and damp,
The starved and frozen camp,--

The wounded from the battle-plain,
In dreary hospitals of pain,
The cheerless corridors,
The cold and stony floors.

Lo! in that house of misery
A lady with a lamp I see
Pass through the glimmering gloom,
And flit from room to room.

And slow, as in a dream of bliss,
The speechless sufferer turns to kiss
Her shadow, as it falls
Upon the darkening walls.

As if a door in heaven should be
Opened and then closed suddenly,
The vision came and went,
The light shone and was spent.

On England's annals, through the long
Hereafter of her speech and song,
That light its rays shall cast
From portals of the past.

A Lady with a Lamp shall stand
In the great history of the land,
A noble type of good,
Heroic womanhood.

Nor even shall be wanting here
The palm, the lily, and the spear,
The symbols that of yore
Saint Filomena bore.