girl's name
Penelope
puh-NEL-uh-pee
- Origin Greek
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 4
- Letters 8
- Popularity Top 100 (US)
- Births on record 137,098
the United States
#22
2025 births
Penelope is a girl's name of Greek origin, borne in Homer's Odyssey by the wife of Odysseus, who held off suitors for twenty years by weaving a shroud she unpicked each night. Its root is debated, most often linked either to a word for thread or to a species of duck.
- Penelope is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 2019, when 6,734 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 533 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 4 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Penelope over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 34 |
| 1890s | 36 |
| 1900s | 29 |
| 1910s | 248 |
| 1920s | 562 |
| 1930s | 1,109 |
| 1940s | 6,383 |
| 1950s | 4,758 |
| 1960s | 2,871 |
| 1970s | 1,750 |
| 1980s | 609 |
| 1990s | 795 |
| 2000s | 5,677 |
| 2010s | 47,641 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 37,031 |
What Penelope means
Penelope's meaning is not settled. One reading connects it to the Greek pēnē, meaning weft or thread, which fits the weaving trick that defines her story. Another links it to pēnelops, a kind of duck, drawing on a myth in which the infant Penelope was rescued from the sea by ducks.
Where Penelope comes from
Penelope comes from the Greek Pēnelopē, and classical scholars have argued over its root since antiquity. The most commonly cited derivation is from pēnē, the weft threads in weaving, which suits the Odyssey's most famous episode: Penelope tells her suitors she will remarry once she has finished a burial shroud, then secretly unravels each day's work by night, holding them off for years. A competing derivation points to pēnelops, a duck, supported by a variant myth in which she was thrown into the sea as a baby and saved by ducks. Neither reading has displaced the other, and reference works generally present both.
Penelope in use
Penelope's name and her most famous act may be linguistically linked, if the weaving derivation is correct.
How popular is Penelope?
In 2025, Penelope was given to 6,225 babies in the United States, ranking #22 that year. It is one of the most popular names in the United States.
Where Penelope is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Penelope is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Pénélope | Pénélope is Penelope written with an acute accent in France, and the spelling parents there overwhelmingly choose: it ranks #516 in France, against #6,865 for Penelope. | 2,090 |
| Penélope | Penélope is a rare spelling of Penelope, written with an acute accent and recorded about 15 times, mostly in France. | 15 |
Names that peaked alongside Penelope
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Penelope also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Penelope over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
7 nicknames for Penelope
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Penelope in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Penelope
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Penelope — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Penelope
What does the name Penelope mean?
Penelope's root is disputed — it is linked either to the Greek pēnē, meaning thread, or to pēnelops, a species of duck.
Who was Penelope in Greek mythology?
Penelope was the wife of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey, who held off her suitors by weaving and secretly unpicking a shroud.
What are nicknames for Penelope?
Penny, Nell, and Poppy are the most common short forms.
How popular is the name Penelope?
In 2025, Penelope was given to 6,225 babies in the United States, ranking #22 that year. It is one of the most popular names in the United States.
Is Penelope a girl's or a boy's name?
Penelope is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Penelope?
Penelope has 4 syllables.
When was Penelope most popular?
Penelope peaked in 2019, when 6,734 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
Is Penelope a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Penelope currently ranks #22 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.