Primarily a girl's name · 100% girls
Origin: FrenchIn Pythagorean numerology, every letter has a value from 1 to 9. Adding the letters of Penelope yields these three numbers — a playful read on the name's character.
Penelope's rank reached its best-ever mark, #21, in 2022, three years after its raw count peaked at 6,733 births in 2019 — count falling while rank still climbed, the same pattern seen in Scarlett.
5,741 births in 2024 is only 13% more than a decade before — a modest gain next to this batch's bigger risers like Rowan or Thiago.
Unusually, no famous bearers are listed for Penelope at all, despite its flagged French origin and its long presence in Greek mythology through Odysseus's wife — a gap between cultural weight and documented namesakes that Aurora and Eliana also showed in the third batch.
Why did you choose this name — or what does it mean to you? Approved stories appear on this page.
→ See names similar to Penelope · Compare Penelope with another name → · Popular names of the 2010s · Girls names starting with P
Rank is among all girls' names registered that year.
| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 5 | #917 |
| 1883 | 6 | #902 |
| 1886 | 7 | #974 |
| 1888 | 8 | #1,018 |
| 1889 | 8 | #1,011 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,488 |
| 1891 | 9 | #992 |
| 1893 | 6 | #1,398 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,764 |
| 1896 | 6 | #1,545 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,906 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,882 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,980 |
| 1906 | 5 | #2,163 |
| 1907 | 5 | #2,318 |
| 1909 | 8 | #1,725 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,897 |
| 1911 | 7 | #2,145 |
| 1912 | 11 | #1,814 |
| 1913 | 13 | #1,743 |
| 1914 | 16 | #1,722 |
| 1915 | 31 | #1,283 |
| 1916 | 37 | #1,183 |
| 1917 | 32 | #1,299 |
| 1918 | 44 | #1,118 |
| 1919 | 49 | #1,036 |
| 1920 | 54 | #1,013 |
| 1921 | 45 | #1,146 |
| 1922 | 61 | #959 |
| 1923 | 58 | #986 |
| 1924 | 65 | #949 |
| 1925 | 66 | #922 |
| 1926 | 64 | #935 |
| 1927 | 57 | #1,019 |
| 1928 | 49 | #1,080 |
| 1929 | 43 | #1,132 |
| 1930 | 44 | #1,124 |
| 1931 | 37 | #1,191 |
| 1932 | 45 | #1,065 |
| 1933 | 40 | #1,119 |
| 1934 | 43 | #1,074 |
| 1935 | 69 | #830 |
| 1936 | 102 | #656 |
| 1937 | 173 | #502 |
| 1938 | 188 | #486 |
| 1939 | 368 | #325 |
| 1940 | 439 | #300 |
| 1941 | 546 | #273 |
| 1942 | 670 | #267 |
| 1943 | 643 | #276 |
| 1944 | 678 | #265 |
| 1945 | 509 | #305 |
| 1946 | 641 | #289 |
| 1947 | 796 | #272 |
| 1948 | 782 | #275 |
| 1949 | 679 | #297 |
| 1950 | 646 | #305 |
| 1951 | 568 | #332 |
| 1952 | 529 | #360 |
| 1953 | 537 | #366 |
| 1954 | 482 | #396 |
| 1955 | 419 | #436 |
| 1956 | 380 | #479 |
| 1957 | 422 | #460 |
| 1958 | 387 | #484 |
| 1959 | 388 | #495 |
| 1960 | 316 | #549 |
| 1961 | 310 | #567 |
| 1962 | 286 | #586 |
| 1963 | 322 | #540 |
| 1964 | 266 | #616 |
| 1965 | 265 | #586 |
| 1966 | 223 | #643 |
| 1967 | 255 | #597 |
| 1968 | 282 | #570 |
| 1969 | 345 | #531 |
| 1970 | 315 | #571 |
| 1971 | 205 | #734 |
| 1972 | 219 | #677 |
| 1973 | 222 | #676 |
| 1974 | 184 | #760 |
| 1975 | 160 | #842 |
| 1976 | 121 | #1,029 |
| 1977 | 119 | #1,096 |
| 1978 | 108 | #1,172 |
| 1979 | 101 | #1,266 |
| 1980 | 83 | #1,471 |
| 1981 | 78 | #1,541 |
| 1982 | 62 | #1,779 |
| 1983 | 67 | #1,658 |
| 1984 | 59 | #1,827 |
| 1985 | 56 | #1,969 |
| 1986 | 54 | #2,017 |
| 1987 | 63 | #1,850 |
| 1988 | 47 | #2,356 |
| 1989 | 42 | #2,704 |
| 1990 | 59 | #2,193 |
| 1991 | 61 | #2,182 |
| 1992 | 63 | #2,152 |
| 1993 | 54 | #2,376 |
| 1994 | 65 | #2,117 |
| 1995 | 94 | #1,604 |
| 1996 | 80 | #1,835 |
| 1997 | 99 | #1,612 |
| 1998 | 117 | #1,466 |
| 1999 | 102 | #1,643 |
| 2000 | 131 | #1,419 |
| 2001 | 235 | #943 |
| 2002 | 346 | #717 |
| 2003 | 367 | #712 |
| 2004 | 424 | #646 |
| 2005 | 513 | #561 |
| 2006 | 649 | #482 |
| 2007 | 796 | #409 |
| 2008 | 919 | #359 |
| 2009 | 1,297 | #253 |
| 2010 | 1,547 | #200 |
| 2011 | 1,871 | #168 |
| 2012 | 2,536 | #125 |
| 2013 | 4,292 | #56 |
| 2014 | 5,089 | #43 |
| 2015 | 5,952 | #34 |
| 2016 | 6,397 | #27 |
| 2017 | 6,667 | #24 |
| 2018 | 6,523 | #26 |
| 2019 | 6,733 | #22 |
| 2020 | 6,149 | #25 |
| 2021 | 6,364 | #23 |
| 2022 | 6,424 | #21 |
| 2023 | 6,065 | #23 |
| 2024 | 5,741 | #28 |
