Penn
A masculine name derived from a nickname meaning "small one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,107 living Americans carry the first name Penn. It is a predominantly male name (98.1% of registrations). The average person named Penn today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Penn births was 2020 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Penn. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Penn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Penn is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 309,625 Americans
Peak year
2020
80 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,978
Tracked since 1915
Census
Penn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,077 people with the first name Penn, which placed it at #11,755 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#11,755
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,077 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Penn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Penn is White at 81.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Penn described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Penn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.6% · 879
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.4% · 69
- Two or more races4.8% · 52
- Black or African American3.9% · 42
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Penn
Penn leans heavily male at 98.1% of total registrations, but 22 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Penn as a male name
- Ranked #2,978 in 2024
- 42 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (79 births)
Penn as a female name
- Ranked #13,123 in 2020
- 7 female births in 2020
- Peak: 2015 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Penn leans strongly male. 928 people counted with this name were male (85.7%), compared with 155 female bearers (14.3%).
Popularity
Penn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Penn from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 554 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Penn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Penn by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Penn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Penns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Pennsylvania, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Penn, while Virginia, Utah, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Penn
The name Penn has its origins in the Welsh language and culture. It is believed to be derived from the Welsh word "pen," which means "head" or "chief." This suggests that the name may have initially been used to denote someone of importance or authority in the community.
In its earliest recorded instances, the name Penn appeared as a personal name in medieval Welsh poetry and literature from the 12th century onwards. It was particularly prevalent in the regions of Wales, where it was likely used as a name for male children born into influential families or those with aspirations of leadership.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Penn was Sir Penn Shon of Weobley, a Welsh landowner and knight who lived in the late 13th century. He played a significant role in the conflicts between the Welsh and English during the time of Edward I's conquest of Wales.
Another notable figure bearing the name Penn was William Penn, the English Quaker leader and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania. Born in 1644, Penn established the colony as a haven for religious freedom and democratic principles, and his legacy has had a lasting impact on American history.
In the literary realm, Penn Warren, an American novelist, poet, and literary critic, made significant contributions to the field of literature. Born in 1905, he received numerous accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1947 for his novel "All the King's Men."
The name Penn also found its way into the world of sports with Penn Hendricks, an American football player who competed in the early 20th century. Born in 1887, Hendricks played professional football for the Canton Bulldogs and the Cleveland Indians in the National Football League.
Another individual of note was Penn Yan, a Native American leader of the Seneca tribe who lived in the late 18th century. He played a crucial role in negotiating treaties and maintaining peaceful relations between the Seneca nation and the United States government during the post-Revolutionary War period.
People
Penn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Penn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Penn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Penn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,107 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Penn going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 309,625 US residents.
Is Penn a common name?
We classify Penn as "Rare". It ranks above 90.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,182 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Penn most popular?
The single biggest year for Penn was 2020, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Penn is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Penn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,077 people with the name Penn, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,755 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Penn in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Penn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Penn leans strongly male. 928 people counted with this name were male (85.7%), compared with 155 female bearers (14.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Penn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Penn is White at 81.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%) and Two or More Races (4.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Penn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Penn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.6% (879 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Penn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Penn a male name?
Yes, 98.1% of people registered as Penn in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Penn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Penn in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Penn can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Penn?
You can see how many people have the name Penn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.