Penelope
Penelope was given to 6,225 girls in 2025, #22 among girls’ names; 109,533 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 103,000 Americans named Penelope and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 9 years old and half are between 5 and 13.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Penelope by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Penelope mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Penelope is “a female given name from Ancient Greek.” Its etymology gives the sense “duck” (πηνέλοψ).
From Ancient Greek Πηνελόπη (Pēnelópē), possibly from πηνέλοψ (pēnélops, “duck”).
/pɪˈnɛləpi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Penelope?
#22 among girls’ names, 2025
Penelope rose from #34 in 2015 to #22 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 3.3 to 3.9 per 1,000.
6,734 babies in 2019, the peak
Penelope peaked in 2019, when 6,734 girls were given it, #22 among girls’ names. The 6,225 births of 2025 are 92% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6,225 | #22 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 5,760 | #28 | 3.6 |
| 2023 | 6,068 | #23 | 3.8 |
| 2022 | 6,430 | #21 | 3.9 |
| 2021 | 6,370 | #23 | 3.9 |
| 2020 | 6,152 | #26 | 3.8 |
| 2019 | 6,734 | #22 | 4.0 |
| 2018 | 6,524 | #26 | 3.8 |
| 2017 | 6,668 | #24 | 3.9 |
| 2016 | 6,400 | #27 | 3.6 |
Every recorded year (132)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 5,953 | #34 | 3.3 |
| 2014 | 5,089 | #43 | 2.8 |
| 2013 | 4,292 | #56 | 2.4 |
| 2012 | 2,536 | #125 | 1.4 |
| 2011 | 1,871 | #168 | 1.1 |
| 2010 | 1,547 | #200 | 0.87 |
| 2009 | 1,297 | #253 | 0.71 |
| 2008 | 919 | #359 | 0.49 |
| 2007 | 796 | #411 | 0.41 |
| 2006 | 649 | #482 | 0.34 |
| 2005 | 513 | #561 | 0.28 |
| 2004 | 424 | #646 | 0.23 |
| 2003 | 367 | #712 | 0.20 |
| 2002 | 346 | #717 | 0.19 |
| 2001 | 235 | #942 | 0.13 |
| 2000 | 131 | #1,417 | 0.07 |
| 1999 | 102 | #1,641 | 0.06 |
| 1998 | 117 | #1,464 | 0.07 |
| 1997 | 100 | #1,599 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 80 | #1,833 | 0.05 |
| 1995 | 94 | #1,600 | 0.05 |
| 1994 | 65 | #2,112 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 54 | #2,371 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 63 | #2,147 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 61 | #2,176 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 59 | #2,189 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 42 | #2,698 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 47 | #2,351 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 63 | #1,850 | 0.04 |
| 1986 | 54 | #2,016 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 55 | #1,991 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 58 | #1,859 | 0.03 |
| 1983 | 67 | #1,658 | 0.04 |
| 1982 | 62 | #1,779 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 78 | #1,542 | 0.05 |
| 1980 | 83 | #1,470 | 0.05 |
| 1979 | 100 | #1,278 | 0.06 |
| 1978 | 108 | #1,172 | 0.07 |
| 1977 | 119 | #1,096 | 0.08 |
| 1976 | 120 | #1,034 | 0.08 |
| 1975 | 159 | #844 | 0.11 |
| 1974 | 184 | #760 | 0.13 |
| 1973 | 221 | #677 | 0.15 |
| 1972 | 219 | #677 | 0.14 |
| 1971 | 205 | #734 | 0.12 |
| 1970 | 315 | #571 | 0.18 |
| 1969 | 345 | #531 | 0.20 |
| 1968 | 282 | #570 | 0.17 |
| 1967 | 255 | #597 | 0.15 |
| 1966 | 223 | #643 | 0.13 |
| 1965 | 266 | #585 | 0.15 |
| 1964 | 266 | #616 | 0.14 |
| 1963 | 322 | #540 | 0.17 |
| 1962 | 286 | #586 | 0.15 |
| 1961 | 310 | #567 | 0.15 |
| 1960 | 316 | #549 | 0.16 |
| 1959 | 388 | #495 | 0.19 |
| 1958 | 387 | #485 | 0.19 |
| 1957 | 422 | #460 | 0.21 |
| 1956 | 380 | #478 | 0.19 |
| 1955 | 419 | #435 | 0.21 |
| 1954 | 482 | #395 | 0.25 |
| 1953 | 537 | #365 | 0.29 |
| 1952 | 529 | #359 | 0.29 |
| 1951 | 568 | #332 | 0.32 |
| 1950 | 646 | #305 | 0.38 |
| 1949 | 679 | #297 | 0.40 |
| 1948 | 782 | #275 | 0.46 |
| 1947 | 796 | #272 | 0.45 |
| 1946 | 641 | #289 | 0.41 |
| 1945 | 509 | #305 | 0.39 |
| 1944 | 678 | #265 | 0.51 |
| 1943 | 643 | #276 | 0.46 |
| 1942 | 670 | #267 | 0.50 |
| 1941 | 546 | #273 | 0.45 |
| 1940 | 439 | #300 | 0.38 |
| 1939 | 368 | #326 | 0.34 |
| 1938 | 188 | #486 | 0.17 |
| 1937 | 173 | #502 | 0.16 |
| 1936 | 102 | #656 | 0.10 |
| 1935 | 69 | #830 | 0.07 |
| 1934 | 43 | #1,074 | 0.04 |
| 1933 | 40 | #1,119 | 0.04 |
| 1932 | 45 | #1,065 | 0.04 |
| 1931 | 37 | #1,191 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 44 | #1,124 | 0.04 |
| 1929 | 43 | #1,132 | 0.04 |
| 1928 | 49 | #1,080 | 0.04 |
| 1927 | 57 | #1,019 | 0.05 |
| 1926 | 64 | #935 | 0.05 |
| 1925 | 66 | #922 | 0.05 |
| 1924 | 65 | #949 | 0.05 |
| 1923 | 58 | #986 | 0.05 |
| 1922 | 61 | #959 | 0.05 |
| 1921 | 45 | #1,146 | 0.04 |
| 1920 | 54 | #1,013 | 0.05 |
| 1919 | 49 | #1,036 | 0.04 |
| 1918 | 44 | #1,118 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 32 | #1,299 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 37 | #1,183 | 0.04 |
| 1915 | 31 | #1,283 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 16 | #1,722 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 13 | #1,743 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 11 | #1,813 | 0.02 |
| 1911 | 7 | #2,145 | 0.02 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,897 | 0.02 |
| 1909 | 8 | #1,725 | 0.02 |
| 1907 | 5 | #2,317 | 0.02 |
| 1906 | 5 | #2,163 | 0.02 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,979 | 0.02 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,881 | 0.02 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,905 | 0.02 |
| 1896 | 6 | #1,545 | 0.03 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,764 | 0.02 |
| 1893 | 6 | #1,398 | 0.03 |
| 1891 | 9 | #992 | 0.05 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,487 | 0.03 |
| 1889 | 8 | #1,011 | 0.04 |
| 1888 | 8 | #1,018 | 0.04 |
| 1886 | 7 | #974 | 0.05 |
| 1883 | 6 | #902 | 0.05 |
| 1880 | 5 | #917 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Penelope a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Penelope has been given almost only to girls: 53 boys in 132 years of records.
Girls and boys named Penelope: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Penelope, and how old are they?
103,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 109,533 Americans ever recorded as Penelope. The median Penelope alive today is 9 years old; half are between 5 and 13.
The 2020 Census counted 65,806 people named Penelope (65,742 women and girls, 64 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 69,329 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2,090 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 6,870 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,950 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 974 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 11,800 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 78,200 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Penelope born?
The states with the most babies named Penelope are California, Texas and New York, with 28% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 827 | #20 | 1.3× |
| Texas | 590 | #32 | 0.9× |
| New York | 348 | #26 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 336 | #31 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 258 | #17 | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 255 | #15 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 228 | #25 | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 188 | #34 | 0.7× |
| Arizona | 174 | #18 | 1.2× |
| New Jersey | 173 | #30 | 0.9× |
Where Penelope is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Penelope is most over-represented in California: since 1910 it was given 1.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Penelope with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 110,260 babies since 1880, Penelope is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 6,225 of their 6,252 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Penelope
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Penelope and names like it
- Compare Penelope and PennelopeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sPenelope peaked in 2019.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Penelope since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Penelope: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2019The year the most babies were named Penelope.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Penelope alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with PMost given first.