Penney
Penney was last recorded in 2018, when 5 babies were given it; 1,951 Americans have been recorded with it between 1925 and 2018 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,610 Americans named Penney and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (83% of everyone recorded); the median is 64 years old and half are between 57 and 69.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Penney by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Penney?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #17,545, in 2018; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
113 babies in 1962, the peak
Penney peaked in 1962, when 113 girls were given it, #1,013 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 5 | #17,545 | 2.9 |
| 2017 | 9 | #11,397 | 5.2 |
| 2014 | 8 | #12,790 | 4.5 |
| 2012 | 5 | #18,878 | 2.8 |
| 1988 | 5 | #13,282 | 2.8 |
| 1985 | 8 | #8,093 | 4.6 |
| 1984 | 7 | #8,863 | 4.2 |
| 1983 | 12 | #5,714 | 7.2 |
| 1982 | 15 | #4,878 | 8.9 |
| 1981 | 6 | #10,005 | 3.6 |
Every recorded year (53)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 14 | #5,155 | 8.4 |
| 1979 | 17 | #4,365 | 10.6 |
| 1978 | 21 | #3,602 | 13.7 |
| 1977 | 28 | #2,890 | 18.3 |
| 1976 | 21 | #3,376 | 14.3 |
| 1975 | 27 | #2,788 | 18.5 |
| 1974 | 31 | #2,480 | 21.1 |
| 1973 | 34 | #2,293 | 23.3 |
| 1972 | 50 | #1,761 | 32.9 |
| 1971 | 44 | #1,957 | 26.4 |
| 1970 | 39 | #2,108 | 22.3 |
| 1969 | 43 | #1,911 | 25.5 |
| 1968 | 55 | #1,552 | 33.5 |
| 1967 | 59 | #1,455 | 35.7 |
| 1966 | 66 | #1,345 | 39.0 |
| 1965 | 67 | #1,344 | 38.0 |
| 1964 | 96 | #1,123 | 50.7 |
| 1963 | 78 | #1,247 | 40.5 |
| 1962 | 113 | #1,013 | 57.5 |
| 1961 | 78 | #1,254 | 38.6 |
| 1960 | 91 | #1,144 | 45.0 |
| 1959 | 73 | #1,259 | 36.1 |
| 1958 | 78 | #1,209 | 38.8 |
| 1957 | 66 | #1,314 | 32.3 |
| 1956 | 61 | #1,333 | 30.4 |
| 1955 | 49 | #1,457 | 25.1 |
| 1954 | 56 | #1,339 | 28.8 |
| 1953 | 43 | #1,500 | 22.9 |
| 1952 | 40 | #1,533 | 21.6 |
| 1951 | 38 | #1,549 | 21.1 |
| 1950 | 36 | #1,566 | 21.0 |
| 1949 | 38 | #1,501 | 22.2 |
| 1948 | 31 | #1,699 | 18.3 |
| 1947 | 41 | #1,479 | 23.1 |
| 1946 | 20 | #2,140 | 12.7 |
| 1945 | 17 | #2,135 | 13.0 |
| 1944 | 21 | #1,900 | 15.8 |
| 1943 | 28 | #1,620 | 20.1 |
| 1942 | 25 | #1,695 | 18.5 |
| 1941 | 19 | #1,938 | 15.7 |
| 1940 | 9 | #3,157 | 7.9 |
| 1939 | 5 | #4,784 | 4.6 |
| 1925 | 5 | #5,603 | 4.1 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Penney a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Penney has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 53 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Penney: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Penney, and how old are they?
1,610 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 83% of the 1,951 Americans ever recorded as Penney. The median Penney alive today is 64 years old; half are between 57 and 69.
The 2020 Census counted 1,661 people named Penney (1,654 women and girls, 7 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,712 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 62 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 904 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 566 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 51 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 5 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 22 |
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).
How common is the spelling Penney?
Penney is a less common spelling of Penny: SSA has recorded 1,951 Penney and 101,003 Penny since 1880.
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 112,193 babies since 1880, Penney is the fourth most given (1.7% of them). In 2025 none of their 389 babies recorded by SSA was a Penney (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Penney
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 Penney and names like it
- Compare Penney and PennyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sPenney peaked in 1962.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Penney since 1910.
- The top names of 1962The year the most babies were named Penney.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Penney alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with PMost given first.