Baby Name: Dona

The name Marpessa was a mere one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data back in 1960:

• 1962: unlisted
• 1961: unlisted
• 1960: 8 baby girls named Marpessa [debut]
• 1959: unlisted
• 1958: unlisted

Where did it come from?

Half-black, half-Filipino actress Marpessa Dawn (born Gypsy Dona Bailey in Pittsburgh in 1934).

Marpessa spent most of her working life in Europe, but her starring role in the 1959 Portuguese-language film Orfeu Negro (translation: Black Orpheus) brought her to the attention of American audiences.

The film was based on the ancient Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, but set in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. The film won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in the spring of 1959, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film in March of 1960, and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in April of 1960.

Marpessa wasn’t able to capitalize on this brief period of fame, however, so she (and her name) soon fell out of the spotlight.

The first part of Marpessa’s stage name — just like her most memorable film — has ancient Greek roots. The mythical Marpessa in Homer’s Iliad was an Aetolian princess who had been seized from her mortal lover Idas by the sun god Apollo. The name, accordingly, is based on an ancient Greek verb meaning “to seize.”

Do you like the name Marpessa? Would you use it?

Sources:

• “America’s Dawn Comes Up in France.” Life 14 Mar. 1960: 57-59.
• Nelson, Eric. The Greek Tradition in Republican Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
• Marpessa Dawn – Wikipedia
• Now that was a great one: Black Orpheus – Dig DC
• Gypsy Dona Bailey – 1940 U.S. Census

Image: Clipping from Ebony magazine (Nov. 1959)