Melpomene

Melpomene is formed from the Greek melpein (to sing, to celebrate with song) and the feminine participial suffix -mene, giving the overall sense of she who sings or the singing one. The name appears in Hesiod's Theogony (circa 700 BC) as one of the original Muses. In later classical tradition, beginning particularly with Apollodorus, the Muses were assigned specific artistic domains, and Melpomene became fixed as the Muse of tragedy. The name's four syllables follow a pattern common to Greek feminine divine names, paralleling Terpsichore, Persephone, and Calliope.

Melpomene occupies a central place in classical art and literature as the personification of tragic drama. She appears frequently in ancient sculpture and painting wearing the tragic mask, and the imagery of the two theatrical masks, comedy and tragedy, derives from the paired Muses Thalia and Melpomene. The name has been used symbolically in European art since the Renaissance and appears in numerous paintings, allegorical sculptures, and literary allusions. In the modern era she is perhaps best known to English readers through the poetry of Keats and Milton, both of whom invoked the Muses. As a given name she is virtually unused, making it one of the most distinctive choices available from the classical tradition.