Pennie
A feminine diminutive form of the name Penelope, meaning "weaver" in Greek.
Name Census estimates that about 3,920 living Americans carry the first name Pennie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Pennie today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pennie births was 1963 (258 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pennie. 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 Pennie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.9K
~ 1 in 87,437 Americans
Peak year
1963
258 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,054
Tracked since 1882
Census
Pennie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,978 people with the first name Pennie, which placed it at #4,617 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
#4,617
National first-name rank
People counted
4.0K
3,978 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pennie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pennie is White at 83.1%. The next largest groups are Black (9.1%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Pennie 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 Pennie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.1% · 3,306
- Black or African American9.1% · 362
- Two or more races3.9% · 155
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 84
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 36
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 35
Popularity
Pennie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pennie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,849 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
Pennie 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 Pennie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pennies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. California, North Carolina, Texas recorded the most babies named Pennie, while Massachusetts, Idaho, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 79 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pennie
The name Pennie is derived from the Latin name "Penelope," which means "weaver" or "duck." It has its origins in Greek mythology, where Penelope was the faithful wife of Odysseus in Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey.
The name Penelope was popular in ancient Greece and later spread to other parts of Europe during the Roman Empire. The name Pennie emerged as a diminutive or shortened form of Penelope, likely during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Pennie can be found in the 13th century in England. It was a common name among the lower classes and was often spelled as "Penne" or "Penny" during that time.
In the 16th century, the name Pennie gained popularity among the upper classes as well. One notable figure was Pennie Meautys, an English noblewoman who lived from 1532 to 1607. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her political influence during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Another historical figure with the name Pennie was Pennie Brewster, an English Puritan who was born in 1609. She was one of the founders of the town of Taunton, Massachusetts, and played a significant role in the establishment of the colony.
During the 18th century, the name Pennie was particularly popular in Scotland. One notable bearer was Pennie Lochhead, a Scottish poet who lived from 1737 to 1805. She was known for her satirical works and her contributions to the Scottish literary tradition.
In the 19th century, the name Pennie appeared in various literary works, including the novel "Pennie by the Beach" by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, published in 1888. This helped to further popularize the name.
Other notable historical figures with the name Pennie include Pennie Edmiston, an American singer and actress born in 1932, and Pennie Laingen, an American author and political activist born in 1935.
People
Pennie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pennie 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
Pennie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pennie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,920 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pennie 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 87,437 US residents.
Is Pennie a common name?
We classify Pennie as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,798 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pennie most popular?
The single biggest year for Pennie was 1963, when 258 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pennie is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pennie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,978 people with the name Pennie, or 1.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,617 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 Pennie 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 Pennie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pennie appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,977 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Pennie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pennie is White at 83.1%. The next largest groups are Black (9.1%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Pennie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pennie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.1% (3,306 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 Pennie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pennie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pennie 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 Pennie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pennie 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 Pennie 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 Pennie?
See how many Americans are named Pennie on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.