Funny girl Tina Fey and her long time husband composer and TV producer Jeff Richmond have two daughters together. The first is named Alice Zenobia Richmond (b. 2005) and the second is Penelope Athena Richmond (b. 2011). Alice is a solid choice, but we had to wonder about Zenobia? There are a couple theories. First, Zenobia was the name of a 3rd century queen of a Syrian empire who led a famous revolt against the Roman Empire (sounds like the kind of ballsy lady Ms. Fey would admire). We doubt it’s in reference to Zenobia (Zeena), a character in Edith Wharton’s 1911 novel “Ethan Frome†because she’s the somewhat shrewish, bossy, grumpy wife of Ethan Frome. So we’re assuming Tina got her daughter’s middle name from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1952 novel “The Blithedale Romance†wherein Zenobia is a beautiful and wealthy, if a bit prideful, character admired by all. Obviously Tina was going with a Greek mythology theme when naming her second child Penelope Athena.
