The name Pandora is commonly translated as “all-gifted” in Greek mythology.
The name comes from Greek elements often explained as pan, meaning “all,” and doron, meaning “gift.” Hesiod’s story presents Pandora as receiving contributions from several gods. Athena gives her skill, Aphrodite gives beauty, and Hermes gives qualities associated with persuasion and deception. The name therefore reflects the many divine gifts placed upon her.
There is an important scholarly complication. In one passage of Hesiod’s Theogony, Pandora’s name may be connected with a figure or epithet associated with gifts from all the gods, while later readers have generally understood it as describing the woman’s many endowments. The familiar “all-gifted” explanation is the standard one in modern summaries of the myth.
Pandora’s name is also why the modern expression “Pandora’s box” remains recognizable even outside classical mythology. The name is often used for products, institutions, and fictional characters, but the mythological Pandora is specifically the woman created under Zeus’s instructions.