Meaning & History
Originally meant "person from Penrose", Cornwall, Herefordshire and Wales ("highest part of the heath or moorland"). It is borne by the British mathematician Sir Roger Penrose (1931-).Derived from a place name meaning "highest part of the heath or moorland" from the Celtic elements pen "head, top, end" and ros "heath, moor". Places in Cornwall, Herefordshire and Wales bear this name. Cornish and Welsh: habitational name from any of the places called Penrose, in ten parishes of Cornwall, several in Wales, and in Herefordshire near the Welsh border. All are named with Celtic pen ‘head’, ‘top’, ‘end’ + ros ‘heath’, ‘moor’.