Penina
Feminine · “pearl”
Penina is a pearl, and she is one of the more sympathetically drawn minor figures in the Hebrew Bible — Peninnah, the fertile second wife in the First Book of Samuel, whose taunting of the childless Hannah sets that story in motion. Its American peak is 2022, which reflects Orthodox Jewish naming rather than any general fashion.
How old is the name Penina?
Penina first appears in US birth records in 1953 — 72 years ago. The typical Penina alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 1,000 people named Penina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Penina most popular?
Penina peaked in 2022, reaching #3827 nationally. Today it ranks #5917, 2,090 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From peninah to Penina
The story of Penina
Peninnah appears in the opening chapter of First Samuel as one of Elkanah's two wives; she has children and Hannah does not, and she provokes her rival until Hannah prays for a son and receives Samuel. She is a small part of a large story and does not appear again. Hebrew naming has nonetheless used the name steadily, and modern Israeli usage treats Penina as an ordinary name meaning pearl rather than as a reference to that character. American use is concentrated in Orthodox and Israeli-American communities and has risen in recent decades, which is why the peak is so recent.
Meaningscholars disagree
pearl; coral
Hebrew peninah means a pearl in modern usage, and the plural peninim appears in Proverbs in a phrase usually translated 'more precious than rubies' or 'than pearls'. The ancient referent is genuinely uncertain — coral, pearls and red gemstones have all been proposed, since the biblical text does not specify. The name is the singular of that word. The general sense of a precious ornamental substance is settled; the exact material is not.
How the name formed
- peninah
- Peninnah
- Penina
Related forms: Pnina · Peninnah · Penina
Pronouncing Penina
peh-NEE-nah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Modern Israeli Hebrew compresses the first syllable almost to nothing, giving PNEE-nah, which is why the Pnina spelling exists. Both are heard on American bearers.
Nicknames for Penina
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1953
- Most girls named
- 202239 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3827reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −33.3%20 in 2025, from 30
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Penina in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pnina in Hebrew — spelling variant
- Peninnah in English — spelling variant
- Penina in Yiddish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey.
Peninas among us
people named Penina are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 80,363 born in 2025 was named Penina
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jowanna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Penina's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jowanna climbed just as high around 1959, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jowanna's path sketches the road Penina is walking now.
Penina sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Penina beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Penina in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a single concrete precious thing, easy to explain.
- Nina and Penny are both available as familiar short forms.
- It has continuous Hebrew use going back to the biblical period.
- Penina, Pnina and Peninnah all circulate as one name.
- The biblical bearer is not a sympathetic figure in the story as told.
- The exact ancient material behind the word is not settled.
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What they receive
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Penina
Feminine · #5917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Peninas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Penina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Penina in 2025?
- Penina ranks #5917 among US girl names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Penina?
- About 1 in every 80,363 US girls born in 2025 was named Penina — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Penina with classmates?
- Penina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Penina
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elda#5917 · Saloma#5917 · Fawn#5917 · Sarafina#5917 · Jaymie#5917 · Jania#5917 · Kimberlynn#5917 · Patsy#5917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Penina? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Penina and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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