Penny
Feminine · “Short form of Penelope”
Penny is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 100,619 girls against 384 boys since 1880.
Penny arrived in English twice over: once as the short form of Penelope, the name Homer gave the wife who waited out the Odyssey at her loom, and once as the plain English word for the smallest coin, in the language since Old English. Two syllables, no silent letters, and a pronunciation nobody hesitates over. It has been on American records since the nineteenth century and has never fallen off.
How old is the name Penny?
Penny first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Penny alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 85,500 people named Penny are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Penny most popular?
Penny peaked in 1963, reaching #86 nationally. Today it ranks #740, 654 places below that high. See the whole 1963 chart.
Where it comes from
From Pēnelopeia to Penny
The story of Penny
The name behind it is Penelope, from the Greek Pēnelopeia, carried into English through the Latin and Greek texts read in schools from the Renaissance onward. Penelope stayed a somewhat literary choice in English for centuries, and Penny grew up beside it as the everyday form — the version used at home, at school, across the kitchen. In the twentieth century Penny broke loose entirely and was registered as a name in its own right, given to girls whose birth certificates said nothing longer. The Beatles fixed the sound in another way in 1967 with "Penny Lane", named for a real street in Liverpool.
Meaningscholars disagree
Short form of Penelope; also the English coin
Penelope's Greek root is argued two ways: from pēnē, the weft or thread on a loom, which suits Homer's weaving heroine, and from pēnelops, a kind of duck named in Greek myth. Scholars have never resolved it. Separately, Penny is identical to the English word for the coin, from Old English penig — an overlap of sound rather than a shared root."
How the name formed
- Pēnelopeia
- Penelope
- Penny
Related forms: Πηνελόπη (Penelopi) · Penélope · Pénélope · Penelope · Penelopa · Penélope
Pronouncing Penny
PEN-ee
Stress on the first syllable. It survives accents and phone calls intact, and English speakers spell it correctly on the first hearing.
Nicknames for Penny
Moderate
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
- 1882
- Most girls named
- 19614,638 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #86reached in 1963
- Change vs 2022
- −8.5%368 in 2025, from 402
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.
Penny in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Πηνελόπη (Penelopi) in Greek — transliteration
- Penélope in Spanish — related form
- Pénélope in French — related form
- Penelope in Italian — related form
- Penelopa in Polish — related form
- Penélope in Portuguese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Utah.
Pennys among us
people named Penny are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,368 born in 2025 was named Penny
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 Maureen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Penny's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Maureen climbed just as high around 1948, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Maureen's path sketches the road Penny is walking now.
Penny 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
Where Penny is headed
Penny should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Penny beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Penny in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone can already spell it — it is the same string of letters as the coin, learned in childhood.
- Works either way: as a full legal name or as the everyday form of Penelope, which keeps a formal option open.
- On American records continuously since the nineteenth century, so it reads as familiar rather than newly minted anywhere in the country.
- Two syllables with clear consonants; no regional variation in how it is said.
- It is a common noun as well as a name, so the coin phrases come with it: penny for your thoughts, a pretty penny, penny-pinching. Most bearers hear them early and stop noticing.
- It is still strongly represented among older generations, which means many people will have known a grown-up Penny before they meet a small one.
- People often assume it is short for something and ask for the full name. If you register Penny alone, expect to say so more than once.
- "Penny Lane" is well enough known that the pairing with a one-syllable surname beginning in L is worth reading aloud first.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Penny to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Penny? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Penny
Feminine · #740 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pennys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 85,500 people named Penny are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Penny in 2025?
- Penny ranks #740 among US girl names in 2025, with 368 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Penny?
- About 1 in every 4,368 US girls born in 2025 was named Penny — 368 in all.
- Will my child share the name Penny with classmates?
- Penny will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Penny
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kensley#741 · Emerald#741 · Veda#738 · Lacey#738 · Kiana#743 · Valery#743 · Kenzie#736 · Monica#736
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Penny? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Penny and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle