How rare is the name Penelope?

65,806 people in the United States have the first name Penelope, about 1 in 4,590. It ranks #763 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

PENELOPE

#763

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
65,806
About
1 in 4,590
This common or more
65.9%
Who bears it

Of the 65,806 people named Penelope, 63.9% reported their origin as White, 24.3% as Hispanic or Latino and 6.1% as two or more races. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Penelope peaked in 2019, when 6,734 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
2019
Births that year
6,734
In 2025*
6,225 ▼8%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 109,533 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Penelope by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2020s, when it ranked #73. The largest share of babies named Penelope, 71.9%, were born in 2013 or later.

1880s#1,96034
1890s#2,45536
1900s#3,21629
1910s#2,334248
1920s#1,842562
1930s#1,1661,109
1940s#5186,383
1950s#7454,758
1960s#1,0182,871
1970s#1,4111,750
1980s#2,986609
1990s#3,124795
2000s#9745,677
2010s#13547,641
2020s#7337,031
Before 19010.1%
Greatest Generation 1901–270.7%
Silent Generation 1928–454.3%
Baby boom 1946–648.4%
Generation X 1965–802.9%
Millennials 1981–960.9%
Generation Z 1997–1210.9%
2013 and later71.9%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Penelope is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Penelope has been most common in Nevada (2.5×), Arizona (2.1×), and Alaska (1.8×), and least common in Mississippi (0.27×).

105,436 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Penelope

#761 Lincoln · 66,384#762 Juliana · 65,978#764 Mayra · 65,662#765 Ayden · 65,628

Spelled almost the same

One first name in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Penelope, most common first.

#29,086 Pennelope · 306

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