I thought it was pronounced “rass-ism”.
Only by the French.
You would need to go talk to the Romans. Since Greek transliteration is just that -replacing the Greek letters with their Latin equivalents. When they came up with that scheme, I’m pretty sure there was no English language with silent Es. (which we should probably blame on the Normans)
I met a mother and daughter who had just named their new puppy Penelope, only they pronounced it PEN-el-oh-pee. They thought that’s how the name was pronounced. I told them how it was supposed to be pronounced, and they both looked at me suspiciously. I never found out if they changed the name.
Maybe Prusephone’s mother couldn’t decide between Prunella or Persephone, so she merged them.
Oprah would be named Orpah if her father hadn’t made a mistake. I’ll bet she’s glad he did.
The ancient Romans can bite my butt.
I have a friend named Petty, but whose name is pronounced “Patty.” If I recall correctly, she said her mom just wanted to make the name unique somehow.
Hey, the OP is the one that said she sounded black. Plus, I actually had a customer who was Latina named Uneeke. It’s not just the blacks… I’m sick of all people who feel the need to take a normal name or word and “make it unique” by spelling weird or adding prefixes or suffixes. Whites are just as obnoxious with it. Brayleigh and Schaylah are just as annoying. Persephone is a great name. Unique is a great word. But Prusefonay and Uneeke are annoying, I don’t care what race you are.
LOL, oh lord. Emphasis mine.
ObMontyPython: What have the Romans ever done for us?
Alright, so it wasn’t just me.
How do you pronounce it? 
Pen-NEL-opee. I admit, I can’t quite figure out how to say it PEN-el-opee…without sounding bizarre.
Shit just got real, son!
That’s what I’m saying - I can’t figure out how to parse the pronunciation noted above any way except the normal way.
I sort of love you.
Also, that’s exactly how I pronounce Penelope.
Rhymes with Kennel Opie
Ohhhh.
Ask anyone named Llyod. Everyone delights in calling a person named Llyod La-Loyd
That said, I knew a girl named Brian. Yes, that is how it was spelled. She said “It’s pronounced Bree-Ann.” Nice girl but I felt like saying, “You can pronounce it anyway you want but if your parents named you BRIAN and spelled it B-R-I-A-N, they named you BRY-AN.”
Then there was the girl I knew in school in the 70s who was named An-Tiffany spelled Antifanny. She got a lot of Anti-Fanny jokes
Then there is, of course, the Cleveland Indians baseball player named Jhonny Peralta. Pronounced just like “Johnny,” but you’ll often hear fans in the stands yelling “Juh-HAHN-ee” at him. Taking a cue from my girlfriend, I have chosen to go with the much more flattering “Jay-honey.”
What about people named Lloyd?
About 10-15 years ago there was a news anchor here who had trouble pronouncing his own name. He’d say his first name, then pause a little, then over-pronounce the beginning of his last name.
And CNN anchor Rick Sanchez sometimes pronounces his name “SHAN-chez.”