Quick answer
Gwendolen is a girl name meaning "white ring".
Pronunciation: Welsh /ɡwɛn.ˈdɔl.ɛn/; English /ˈɡwɛn.də.lɪn/.
Meaning and history
Possibly means "white ring", derived from Welsh gwen meaning "white, blessed" and dolen meaning "ring, loop". This name appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th-century chronicles, written in the Latin form Guendoloena, where it belongs to an ancient queen of the Britons who defeats her ex-husband in battle. Geoffrey later used it in Vita Merlini for the wife of the prophet Merlin. An alternate theory claims that the name arose from a misreading of the masculine name Guendoleu by Geoffrey. This name was not regularly given to people until the 19th century. It was used by George Eliot for a character in her novel Daniel Deronda (1876).
Notes and context
Usage: welsh