Penney
A diminutive form of the English surname Penney, derived from a nickname for someone short or petite.
Name Census estimates that about 1,482 living Americans carry the first name Penney. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Penney today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Penney births was 1962 (113 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Penney. 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
1.5K
~ 1 in 231,278 Americans
Peak year
1962
113 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2018 SSA rank
#17,544
Tracked since 1925
Census
Penney in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,656 people with the first name Penney, which placed it at #8,689 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
#8,689
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,656 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Penney
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Penney is White at 86.2%. The next largest groups are Black (5.6%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Penney 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 Penney at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.2% · 1,427
- Black or African American5.6% · 92
- Two or more races3.7% · 62
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 11
Popularity
Penney: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Penney from the 1920s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 746 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Penney 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 Penney during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Penneys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. New York, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Penney, while Massachusetts, Louisiana, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Penney
The given name Penney is an English name derived from the Old English word "pening," which referred to a small coin or penny. It originated during the Middle Ages when coins were an important part of daily life and trade.
Penney was initially used as a nickname or a surname for those who worked as moneyers, coin makers, or those who dealt with coins. As time passed, the name transitioned from a surname to a given name, likely due to its pleasant sound and association with wealth.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Penney can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a survey of landowners in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appeared as a surname, indicating its early usage.
In the 13th century, the name Penney appeared in the French text "Le Livre de la Taille de Paris," which was a tax record for the city of Paris. This suggests that the name had spread beyond England to other parts of Europe during the Middle Ages.
Throughout history, several notable individuals bore the name Penney. One of the most famous was Penney Prendergast (c. 1290 – c. 1350), an English noblewoman and landowner known for her involvement in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.
Another notable figure was Penney Rowe (1564 – 1618), an English poet and playwright who wrote several works during the Elizabethan era.
In the 18th century, Penney Gaskell (1730 – 1803) was a prominent English philanthropist and social reformer who worked to improve the living conditions of the poor and advocated for the education of women.
During the Victorian era, Penney Jameson (1841 – 1901) was a British explorer and writer who documented her travels through Africa and Asia.
More recently, Penney Oleksiak (born 1996) is a Canadian Olympic swimmer who won multiple gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics, bringing recognition to the name in modern times.
While the name Penney has its origins in the world of coinage and finance, it has evolved to become a unique and memorable given name with a rich history spanning centuries.
People
Penney + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Penney 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
Penney: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Penney?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,482 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Penney 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 231,278 US residents.
Is Penney a common name?
We classify Penney as "Rare". It ranks above 92.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,951 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Penney most popular?
The single biggest year for Penney was 1962, when 113 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Penney is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Penney in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,656 people with the name Penney, or 0.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,689 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 Penney 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 Penney?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Penney appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,661 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Penney?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Penney is White at 86.2%. The next largest groups are Black (5.6%) and Two or More Races (3.7%). 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 Penney most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Penney in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.2% (1,427 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 Penney in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Penney a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Penney 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.
Is Penney still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Penney 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 Penney 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 Americans are named Penney?
See how many people share the name Penney on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.