diff --git a/docs/backcompat.md b/docs/backcompat.md
index e1ffa329eb..185d99a163 100644
--- a/docs/backcompat.md
+++ b/docs/backcompat.md
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ Here are exceptions to our backwards compatibility policy:
   need to rethink Narwhals. However, we expect such radical changes to be exceedingly unlikely.
 - We may consider making some type hints more precise.
 - Anything labelled "unstable".
+- We may sometimes need to bump the minimum versions of supported backends.
 
 In general, decision are driven by use-cases, and we conduct a search of public GitHub repositories
 before making any change.
@@ -113,6 +114,11 @@ before making any change.
 
 The following are differences between the main Narwhals namespace and `narwhals.stable.v1`:
 
+- Since Narwhals 1.35:
+
+  - pandas' ordered categoricals get mapped to `nw.Enum` instead of `nw.Categorical`.
+  - `nw.Enum` must be provided `categories` at instantiation.
+
 - Since Narwhals 1.29.0, `LazyFrame.gather_every` has been deprecated from the main namespace.
 
 - Since Narwhals 1.24.1, an empty or all-null object-dtype pandas Series is inferred to
diff --git a/narwhals/_dask/utils.py b/narwhals/_dask/utils.py
index 3d4ddbe6eb..ba152bd9b5 100644
--- a/narwhals/_dask/utils.py
+++ b/narwhals/_dask/utils.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 from narwhals.dependencies import get_pandas
 from narwhals.dependencies import get_pyarrow
 from narwhals.utils import Implementation
+from narwhals.utils import Version
 from narwhals.utils import import_dtypes_module
 from narwhals.utils import isinstance_or_issubclass
 from narwhals.utils import parse_version
@@ -24,7 +25,6 @@
     from narwhals._dask.dataframe import DaskLazyFrame
     from narwhals._dask.expr import DaskExpr
     from narwhals.dtypes import DType
-    from narwhals.utils import Version
 
 
 def maybe_evaluate_expr(df: DaskLazyFrame, obj: DaskExpr | object) -> dx.Series | object:
@@ -125,6 +125,20 @@ def narwhals_to_native_dtype(dtype: DType | type[DType], version: Version) -> An
         return "object"  # pragma: no cover
     if isinstance_or_issubclass(dtype, dtypes.Boolean):
         return "bool"
+    if isinstance_or_issubclass(dtype, dtypes.Enum):
+        if version is Version.V1:
+            msg = "Converting to Enum is not supported in narwhals.stable.v1"
+            raise NotImplementedError(msg)
+        if isinstance(dtype, dtypes.Enum):
+            import pandas as pd
+
+            # NOTE: `pandas-stubs.core.dtypes.dtypes.CategoricalDtype.categories` is too narrow
+            # Should be one of the `ListLike*` types
+            # https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas-stubs/blob/8434bde95460b996323cc8c0fea7b0a8bb00ea26/pandas-stubs/_typing.pyi#L497-L505
+            return pd.CategoricalDtype(dtype.categories, ordered=True)  # pyright: ignore[reportArgumentType]
+        msg = "Can not cast / initialize Enum without categories present"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
+
     if isinstance_or_issubclass(dtype, dtypes.Categorical):
         return "category"
     if isinstance_or_issubclass(dtype, dtypes.Datetime):
diff --git a/narwhals/_pandas_like/utils.py b/narwhals/_pandas_like/utils.py
index e73369d1cf..7f1a0ea020 100644
--- a/narwhals/_pandas_like/utils.py
+++ b/narwhals/_pandas_like/utils.py
@@ -211,7 +211,9 @@ def rename(
 
 
 @functools.lru_cache(maxsize=16)
-def non_object_native_to_narwhals_dtype(dtype: str, version: Version) -> DType:
+def non_object_native_to_narwhals_dtype(native_dtype: Any, version: Version) -> DType:
+    dtype = str(native_dtype)
+
     dtypes = import_dtypes_module(version)
     if dtype in {"int64", "Int64", "Int64[pyarrow]", "int64[pyarrow]"}:
         return dtypes.Int64()
@@ -249,7 +251,13 @@ def non_object_native_to_narwhals_dtype(dtype: str, version: Version) -> DType:
         return dtypes.String()
     if dtype in {"bool", "boolean", "boolean[pyarrow]", "bool[pyarrow]"}:
         return dtypes.Boolean()
-    if dtype == "category" or dtype.startswith("dictionary<"):
+    if dtype.startswith("dictionary<"):
+        return dtypes.Categorical()
+    if dtype == "category":
+        if version is Version.V1:
+            return dtypes.Categorical()
+        if native_dtype.ordered:
+            return dtypes.Enum(native_dtype.categories)
         return dtypes.Categorical()
     if (match_ := PATTERN_PD_DATETIME.match(dtype)) or (
         match_ := PATTERN_PA_DATETIME.match(dtype)
@@ -310,7 +318,7 @@ def native_to_narwhals_dtype(
             return arrow_native_to_narwhals_dtype(native_dtype.to_arrow(), version)
         return arrow_native_to_narwhals_dtype(native_dtype.pyarrow_dtype, version)
     if str_dtype != "object":
-        return non_object_native_to_narwhals_dtype(str_dtype, version)
+        return non_object_native_to_narwhals_dtype(native_dtype, version)
     elif implementation is Implementation.DASK:
         # Per conversations with their maintainers, they don't support arbitrary
         # objects, so we can just return String.
@@ -471,8 +479,15 @@ def narwhals_to_native_dtype(  # noqa: PLR0915
             msg = "PyArrow>=11.0.0 is required for `Date` dtype."
         return "date32[pyarrow]"
     if isinstance_or_issubclass(dtype, dtypes.Enum):
-        msg = "Converting to Enum is not (yet) supported"
-        raise NotImplementedError(msg)
+        if version is Version.V1:
+            msg = "Converting to Enum is not supported in narwhals.stable.v1"
+            raise NotImplementedError(msg)
+        if isinstance(dtype, dtypes.Enum):
+            ns = implementation.to_native_namespace()
+            return ns.CategoricalDtype(dtype.categories, ordered=True)
+        msg = "Can not cast / initialize Enum without categories present"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
+
     if isinstance_or_issubclass(
         dtype, (dtypes.Struct, dtypes.Array, dtypes.List, dtypes.Time, dtypes.Binary)
     ):
diff --git a/narwhals/_polars/utils.py b/narwhals/_polars/utils.py
index 9452877eac..dd0df4d8a7 100644
--- a/narwhals/_polars/utils.py
+++ b/narwhals/_polars/utils.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 from narwhals.exceptions import InvalidOperationError
 from narwhals.exceptions import NarwhalsError
 from narwhals.exceptions import ShapeError
+from narwhals.utils import Version
 from narwhals.utils import import_dtypes_module
 from narwhals.utils import isinstance_or_issubclass
 
@@ -26,7 +27,6 @@
     from narwhals._polars.expr import PolarsExpr
     from narwhals._polars.series import PolarsSeries
     from narwhals.dtypes import DType
-    from narwhals.utils import Version
 
     T = TypeVar("T")
 
@@ -110,8 +110,10 @@ def native_to_narwhals_dtype(
         return dtypes.Object()
     if dtype == pl.Categorical:
         return dtypes.Categorical()
-    if dtype == pl.Enum:
-        return dtypes.Enum()
+    if isinstance_or_issubclass(dtype, pl.Enum):
+        if version is Version.V1:
+            return dtypes.Enum()  # type: ignore[call-arg]
+        return dtypes.Enum(dtype.categories)
     if dtype == pl.Date:
         return dtypes.Date()
     if isinstance_or_issubclass(dtype, pl.Datetime):
@@ -185,9 +187,14 @@ def narwhals_to_native_dtype(
         return pl.Object()
     if dtype == dtypes.Categorical:
         return pl.Categorical()
-    if dtype == dtypes.Enum:
-        msg = "Converting to Enum is not (yet) supported"
-        raise NotImplementedError(msg)
+    if isinstance_or_issubclass(dtype, dtypes.Enum):
+        if version is Version.V1:
+            msg = "Converting to Enum is not supported in narwhals.stable.v1"
+            raise NotImplementedError(msg)
+        if isinstance(dtype, dtypes.Enum):
+            return pl.Enum(dtype.categories)
+        msg = "Can not cast / initialize Enum without categories present"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
     if dtype == dtypes.Date:
         return pl.Date()
     if dtype == dtypes.Time:
diff --git a/narwhals/dtypes.py b/narwhals/dtypes.py
index b31a0131a0..79da0b2673 100644
--- a/narwhals/dtypes.py
+++ b/narwhals/dtypes.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import enum
 from collections import OrderedDict
 from datetime import timezone
 from itertools import starmap
@@ -9,6 +10,7 @@
 from narwhals.utils import isinstance_or_issubclass
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from typing import Iterable
     from typing import Iterator
     from typing import Sequence
 
@@ -464,14 +466,31 @@ class Enum(DType):
     Polars has an Enum data type, while pandas and PyArrow do not.
 
     Examples:
-       >>> import polars as pl
        >>> import narwhals as nw
-       >>> data = ["beluga", "narwhal", "orca"]
-       >>> s_native = pl.Series(data, dtype=pl.Enum(data))
-       >>> nw.from_native(s_native, series_only=True).dtype
-       Enum
+       >>> nw.Enum(["beluga", "narwhal", "orca"])
+       Enum(categories=['beluga', 'narwhal', 'orca'])
     """
 
+    categories: Sequence[str]
+
+    def __init__(self, categories: Iterable[str] | type[enum.Enum]) -> None:
+        if isinstance(categories, type) and issubclass(categories, enum.Enum):
+            self.categories = tuple(member.value for member in categories)
+        else:
+            self.categories = tuple(categories)
+
+    def __eq__(self: Self, other: object) -> bool:
+        # allow comparing object instances to class
+        if type(other) is type:
+            return other is Enum
+        return isinstance(other, type(self)) and self.categories == other.categories
+
+    def __hash__(self: Self) -> int:  # pragma: no cover
+        return hash((self.__class__, tuple(self.categories)))
+
+    def __repr__(self: Self) -> str:  # pragma: no cover
+        return f"{type(self).__name__}(categories={list(self.categories)!r})"
+
 
 class Field:
     """Definition of a single field within a `Struct` DataType.
diff --git a/narwhals/stable/v1/_dtypes.py b/narwhals/stable/v1/_dtypes.py
index c3905bc1f9..5be99ec36d 100644
--- a/narwhals/stable/v1/_dtypes.py
+++ b/narwhals/stable/v1/_dtypes.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 from narwhals.dtypes import Decimal
 from narwhals.dtypes import DType
 from narwhals.dtypes import Duration as NwDuration
-from narwhals.dtypes import Enum
+from narwhals.dtypes import Enum as NwEnum
 from narwhals.dtypes import Field
 from narwhals.dtypes import Float32
 from narwhals.dtypes import Float64
@@ -72,6 +72,35 @@ def __hash__(self: Self) -> int:
         return hash(self.__class__)
 
 
+class Enum(NwEnum):
+    """A fixed categorical encoding of a unique set of strings.
+
+    Polars has an Enum data type, while pandas and PyArrow do not.
+
+    Examples:
+       >>> import polars as pl
+       >>> import narwhals.stable.v1 as nw
+       >>> data = ["beluga", "narwhal", "orca"]
+       >>> s_native = pl.Series(data, dtype=pl.Enum(data))
+       >>> nw.from_native(s_native, series_only=True).dtype
+       Enum
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self: Self) -> None:
+        super(NwEnum, self).__init__()
+
+    def __eq__(self, other: DType | type[DType]) -> bool:  # type: ignore[override]
+        if type(other) is type:
+            return other in {type(self), NwEnum}
+        return isinstance(other, type(self))
+
+    def __hash__(self: Self) -> int:  # pragma: no cover
+        return super(NwEnum, self).__hash__()
+
+    def __repr__(self: Self) -> str:  # pragma: no cover
+        return super(NwEnum, self).__repr__()
+
+
 __all__ = [
     "Array",
     "Binary",
diff --git a/tests/dtypes_test.py b/tests/dtypes_test.py
index f7a447c6a7..ca5f007199 100644
--- a/tests/dtypes_test.py
+++ b/tests/dtypes_test.py
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import enum
 from datetime import datetime
 from datetime import timedelta
 from datetime import timezone
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
+from typing import Any
+from typing import Iterable
 from typing import Literal
 
 import numpy as np
@@ -400,3 +403,35 @@ def test_cast_decimal_to_native() -> None:
                 .with_columns(a=nw.col("a").cast(nw.Decimal()))
                 .to_native()
             )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "categories",
+    [
+        ["a", "b"],
+        [np.str_("a"), np.str_("b")],
+        enum.Enum("Test", "a b"),
+        [1, 2, 3],
+    ],
+)
+def test_enum_valid(categories: Iterable[Any] | type[enum.Enum]) -> None:
+    dtype = nw.Enum(categories)
+    assert dtype == nw.Enum
+    assert len(dtype.categories) == len([*categories])
+
+
+def test_enum_from_series() -> None:
+    pytest.importorskip("polars")
+    import polars as pl
+
+    elements = "a", "d", "e", "b", "c"
+    categories = pl.Series(elements)
+    categories_nw = nw.from_native(categories, series_only=True)
+    assert nw.Enum(categories_nw).categories == elements
+    assert nw.Enum(categories).categories == elements
+
+
+def test_enum_categories_immutable() -> None:
+    dtype = nw.Enum(["a", "b"])
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError, match="does not support item assignment"):
+        dtype.categories[0] = "c"  # type: ignore[index]
diff --git a/tests/frame/schema_test.py b/tests/frame/schema_test.py
index 964146da7f..a2876eda84 100644
--- a/tests/frame/schema_test.py
+++ b/tests/frame/schema_test.py
@@ -176,6 +176,19 @@ def test_dtypes() -> None:
     assert df_from_pd.schema == df_from_pd.collect_schema() == expected
     assert {name: df_from_pd[name].dtype for name in df_from_pd.columns} == expected
 
+    df_from_pd = nw.from_native(df_pl.to_pandas(), eager_only=True)
+
+    pure_pd_expected = {
+        **expected,
+        "n": nw.Datetime,
+        "s": nw.Object,
+        "u": nw.Object,
+    }
+    assert df_from_pd.schema == df_from_pd.collect_schema() == pure_pd_expected
+    assert {
+        name: df_from_pd[name].dtype for name in df_from_pd.columns
+    } == pure_pd_expected
+
     df_from_pa = nw.from_native(df_pl.to_arrow(), eager_only=True)
 
     assert df_from_pa.schema == df_from_pa.collect_schema() == expected
diff --git a/tests/series_only/cast_test.py b/tests/series_only/cast_test.py
index 5d6d2ebd1a..8a4659455e 100644
--- a/tests/series_only/cast_test.py
+++ b/tests/series_only/cast_test.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 from tests.utils import PANDAS_VERSION
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from tests.utils import Constructor
     from tests.utils import ConstructorEager
 
 
@@ -113,29 +114,23 @@ def test_unknown_to_int() -> None:
     assert nw.from_native(df).select(nw.col("a").cast(nw.Int64)).schema == {"a": nw.Int64}
 
 
-def test_cast_to_enum_polars() -> None:
-    pytest.importorskip("polars")
-    import polars as pl
-
-    # we don't yet support metadata in dtypes, so for now disallow this
-    # seems like a very niche use case anyway, and allowing it later wouldn't be
-    # backwards-incompatible
-    df_pl = pl.DataFrame({"a": ["a", "b"]}, schema={"a": pl.Categorical})
-    with pytest.raises(
-        NotImplementedError, match=r"Converting to Enum is not \(yet\) supported"
+def test_cast_to_enum_vmain(
+    request: pytest.FixtureRequest, constructor: Constructor
+) -> None:
+    # Backends that do not (yet) support Enum dtype
+    if any(
+        backend in str(constructor)
+        for backend in ["pyarrow_table", "duckdb", "sqlframe", "pyspark", "modin"]
     ):
-        nw.from_native(df_pl).select(nw.col("a").cast(nw.Enum))
+        request.applymarker(pytest.mark.xfail)
 
+    df_nw = nw.from_native(constructor({"a": ["a", "b"]}))
+    col_a = nw.col("a")
 
-def test_cast_to_enum_pandas() -> None:
-    pytest.importorskip("pandas")
-    import pandas as pd
-
-    # we don't yet support metadata in dtypes, so for now disallow this
-    # seems like a very niche use case anyway, and allowing it later wouldn't be
-    # backwards-incompatible
-    df_pd = pd.DataFrame({"a": ["a", "b"]}, dtype="category")
     with pytest.raises(
-        NotImplementedError, match=r"Converting to Enum is not \(yet\) supported"
+        ValueError, match="Can not cast / initialize Enum without categories present"
     ):
-        nw.from_native(df_pd).select(nw.col("a").cast(nw.Enum))
+        df_nw.select(col_a.cast(nw.Enum))
+
+    df_nw = df_nw.select(col_a.cast(nw.Enum(["a", "b"])))
+    assert df_nw.collect_schema() == {"a": nw.Enum(["a", "b"])}
diff --git a/tests/v1_test.py b/tests/v1_test.py
index 8c54624add..d8dc60847c 100644
--- a/tests/v1_test.py
+++ b/tests/v1_test.py
@@ -7,10 +7,12 @@
 import pandas as pd
 import pytest
 
+import narwhals as nw
 import narwhals.stable.v1 as nw_v1
 from tests.utils import PANDAS_VERSION
 from tests.utils import POLARS_VERSION
 from tests.utils import PYARROW_VERSION
+from tests.utils import Constructor
 from tests.utils import ConstructorEager
 from tests.utils import assert_equal_data
 
@@ -176,3 +178,56 @@ def test_int_select_pandas() -> None:
         nw_v1.exceptions.InvalidIntoExprError, match="\n\nHint:\n- if you were trying"
     ):
         nw_v1.to_native(df.lazy().select(0))  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+
+
+def test_enum_v1_is_enum_unstable() -> None:
+    enum_v1 = nw_v1.Enum()
+    enum_unstable = nw.Enum(("a", "b", "c"))
+    assert isinstance(enum_v1, nw.Enum)
+    assert issubclass(nw_v1.Enum, nw.Enum)
+    assert enum_v1 == nw.Enum
+    assert enum_v1 != enum_unstable
+    assert enum_unstable != nw_v1.Enum
+    assert enum_unstable == nw.Enum
+
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError, match=r"takes 1 positional argument"):
+        nw_v1.Enum(("a", "b"))  # type: ignore[call-arg]
+
+
+def test_cast_to_enum_v1(
+    request: pytest.FixtureRequest, constructor: Constructor
+) -> None:
+    # Backends that do not (yet) support Enum dtype
+    if (
+        any(
+            backend in str(constructor)
+            for backend in ["pyarrow_table", "duckdb", "sqlframe", "pyspark"]
+        )
+        or str(constructor) == "modin"
+    ):
+        request.applymarker(pytest.mark.xfail)
+
+    df_native = constructor({"a": ["a", "b"]})
+
+    with pytest.raises(
+        NotImplementedError,
+        match="Converting to Enum is not supported in narwhals.stable.v1",
+    ):
+        nw_v1.from_native(df_native).select(nw_v1.col("a").cast(nw_v1.Enum))
+
+
+def test_v1_ordered_categorical_pandas() -> None:
+    s = nw_v1.from_native(
+        pd.Series([0, 1], dtype=pd.CategoricalDtype(ordered=True)), series_only=True
+    )
+    assert s.dtype == nw_v1.Categorical
+
+
+def test_v1_enum_polars() -> None:
+    pytest.importorskip("polars")
+    import polars as pl
+
+    s = nw_v1.from_native(
+        pl.Series(["a", "b"], dtype=pl.Enum(["a", "b"])), series_only=True
+    )
+    assert s.dtype == nw_v1.Enum