Prudence (given name)

Prudence is a feminine given name. The name is a Medieval form of the Latin Prudentia, meaning prudence, i.e. good judgment.

The usual diminutive or short form is Pru or Prue. These may also be short for the unrelated name Prunella, which means plum.

People with this name

• Prudence Farrow, sister of actress Mia Farrow, was John Lennon's inspiration for the Beatles' song "Dear Prudence"
• Pru Goward, member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
• Prue Leith, British television cook
• Prudence Liew, Hong Kong-based cantopop singer and actress

Fictional characters

• Prudence, a character from the 2007 movie Across the Universe
• Prudence, Ryusuke Minami's first guitar in the English-language version of the anime series BECK
• Prudence, voiced by Holland Taylor, a Disney character who appears in Cinderella II, Cinderella III: A Twist in Time, and Twice Charmed, as well as other Disney continuations of the Cinderella story. She is the majordomo of Cinderella's castle, as well as the love interest of the Grand Duke
• Prudence, a bullying toddler in the Rugrats episode "Showdown At Teeter-Totter Gulch"
• Prudence Bates, a 29 year old spinster who works for a "vague cultural organisation" and keeps in touch with her best friend from Oxford, vicar's wife Jane Cleveland: together the heroines of Barbara Pym's eponymous 1953 novel Jane and Prudence
• Prudence Bell, the female lead in Rome Adventure, a 1960s love story with Troy Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette
• Prudence Duncan, the middle sister in the Matchmaker triad of books by Jane Feather
• Prudence Everett (played by Kim Richards), the youngest daughter of Prof. Harold Everett in the 1970-71 American TV program Nanny and the Professor
• Prue Halliwell, portrayed by Shannen Doherty, one of the lead characters on the TV show Charmed until her death at the end of the third season
• Prudence Harbinger, a fictional character created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. She is the new UK Prime Minister's Director of Media Liaison. Her diary has been serialised in the Sunday Telegraph, the first episode appearing on 10 May 2007
• Prudence King, main character of Love Lessons, a novel by Children's Laureate, Jacqueline Wilson
• Prudence McLeod, the mother of the main character Claire McLeod on the TV show McLeod's Daughters