Penelope

What Penelope means

Possibly “duck”

From Ancient Greek Πηνελόπη (Pēnelópē), possibly from πηνέλοψ (pēnélops, “duck”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Penelope” (revision 93750428), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Penelope?

US: Rising: up from #34 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #69 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2019, when 6,734 girls got the name (#22 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 258 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 216 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 308 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in AK (14.52 per 1,000 girls), VT (13.35 per 1,000 girls), WY (9.86 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Penelope is #22 in the US and #33 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Penelope were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Pennelope13 US
• Penellope7 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Penelope

Girls

• Cora#113“maiden”^*
• Zara#212“flower”^*
• Lena#279“the Large River”^*
• Elaina#267Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #267 vs #951 in 2025
• Athena#109Editor’s note Up from #157 in 2015 to #109 in 2025 in the US
• Elena#42Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #106 in 2015, #42 in 2025. 5 letters, starting with a vowel

For a brother

• Azariah#472“Yah Has Helped”^*
• Leonidas#510“son of Leon / lion”^*
• Orion#334possibly “heaven's light”^*
• Damian#109“to tame”^*
• Sebastian#16“august, venerable, exalted”^*
• Solomon#422“peace”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Greek, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Penelope’s. Rank is US 2025.