Pennelope
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "weaver".
Name Census estimates that about 341 living Americans carry the first name Pennelope. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Pennelope today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pennelope births was 2017 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pennelope. 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.
People living today
341
~ 1 in 1,005,145 Americans
Peak year
2017
30 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,803
Tracked since 1942
Popularity
Pennelope: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pennelope from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 162 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Pennelope remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pennelope 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 Pennelope during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pennelopes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Pennelope
The name Pennelope has its origins in ancient Greek mythology. It is derived from the Greek words 'pene', meaning thread or woven web, and 'ops', meaning eye or face. The name was thus associated with weaving and needlework, skills that were highly valued in ancient Greek society.
One of the earliest and most famous references to the name Pennelope comes from Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey. In this work, Pennelope is the faithful wife of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, who waits for her husband's return from the Trojan War for twenty years. Her cunning and virtue are celebrated as she fends off suitors vying for her hand by weaving a shroud for her father-in-law during the day and secretly unraveling it at night.
The name Pennelope began appearing in historical records as early as the 5th century BCE. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Pennelope of Sparta, a Spartan princess who lived around 480 BCE. Another notable figure was Pennelope of Macedon, the daughter of King Philip II of Macedon and the half-sister of Alexander the Great, who lived from around 354 BCE to 300 BCE.
In the Middle Ages, the name Pennelope became popular in Europe, particularly in England and France. One of the earliest recorded English bearers of the name was Pennelope Naunton (c. 1565-1618), an English courtier and the governess to the children of King James I.
Throughout history, several other notable individuals have borne the name Pennelope. These include Pennelope Leighton (1598-1667), an English poet and writer; Pennelope Aubin (1679-1738), an English novelist and playwright; and Pennelope Mordaunt (1735-1825), an English aristocrat and socialite.
More recently, the name Pennelope has been associated with several prominent women in various fields, such as Pennelope Cruz (born 1974), the Spanish actress; Pennelope Lively (born 1933), the British novelist; and Pennelope Fitzgerald (1916-2000), the Booker Prize-winning British novelist and biographer.
People
Pennelope + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pennelope 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
Pennelope: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pennelope?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 341 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pennelope 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 1,005,145 US residents.
Is Pennelope a common name?
We classify Pennelope as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 386 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pennelope most popular?
The single biggest year for Pennelope was 2017, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pennelope is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Pennelope a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pennelope in the SSA data are female. 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.
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.