The Greek name of the woman in Hesiod’s myth is Pandora. The name is commonly explained as meaning “all-gifted” or “gifted by all,” reflecting the story in which several gods contribute gifts or qualities to her.
Pandora’s name is not a description of the jar itself. She is the humanlike figure created at Zeus’s command as part of his response to Prometheus’s theft of fire. Her name helps frame her as a divinely assembled being whose attractions and abilities are gifts from the gods.
Ancient Greek names can have more than one proposed interpretation, and scholars discuss the exact grammar and sense of Pandora’s name. The broad traditional explanation remains “all-gifted,” which is the wording most commonly encountered in reference works.
The name later became associated with dangerous curiosity through the phrase “Pandora’s box.” In the original myth, however, the name’s emphasis is on divine gifts rather than on curiosity alone.