Persephone
Feminine
Persephone is one of the oldest names still given to babies — it was written down in Greek before the alphabet reached most of Europe, and the story attached to it, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, dates to roughly the seventh century BC. In the mouth it runs in four light syllables, per-SEF-uh-nee, the same falling pattern that carries Penelope and Antigone. The spelling has barely changed in twenty-six centuries.
How old is the name Persephone?
Persephone first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Persephone is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 4,900 people named Persephone are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Persephone most popular?
Persephone peaked in 2022, reaching #681 nationally. Today it ranks #734, 53 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Persephone appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Περσεφόνη (Persephónē) to Persephone
The story of Persephone
The name belongs first to Greek myth, where Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, carried off to the underworld and returned for part of each year — the story the Homeric Hymn to Demeter tells at length, and the story ancient Greeks read as an account of why the growing season comes and goes. Her cult at Eleusis kept the name in ritual use for centuries. Latin took her over as Proserpina, most likely through Etruscan, and that is the form Roman poets used; English, when it went back to the Greek sources during and after the Renaissance, borrowed Persephone directly and kept the Greek spelling intact. As a name for actual children in the United States it is a modern development, and its use is concentrated among the young.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No one has settled it. The name resists Greek explanation, and ancient sources spell it several different ways — Persephone, Persephassa, Phersephone — which is usually a sign of a word borrowed into Greek from an older language of the region rather than built inside it. Ancient Greek writers themselves reached for a folk etymology linking it to words for bringing destruction, but that reading is a guess made by people already living with the myth. What is documented: she was also called simply Kore, 'the maiden'.
How the name formed
- ΠερσεφόνηPersephónē
- ProserpinaLatin
- PersephoneEnglish
Related forms: Περσεφόνη · Perséphone · Perséfone · Proserpina · Proserpina · Персефона
Pronouncing Persephone
per-SEF-uh-nee
Four syllables, stress on the second, and the last syllable rhymes with 'knee' — not 'phone'. Anyone who has met Penelope or Antigone will land on it without help; some people need to be told once.
Nicknames for Persephone
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
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 2024383 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #681reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −2.9%372 in 2025, from 383
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.
Persephone in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Περσεφόνη in Greek — same name
- Perséphone in French — same name
- Perséfone in Spanish — spelling variant
- Proserpina in Latin — related form
- Proserpina in Italian — related form
- Персефона in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Pennsylvania.
Persephones among us
people named Persephone are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,321 born in 2025 was named Persephone
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 Suzy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Persephone's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Suzy climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Suzy's path sketches the road Persephone is walking now.
Persephone 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 Persephone is headed
Persephone should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Persephone beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Persephone in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A written record stretching back to archaic Greece, with the spelling essentially unchanged.
- Several real short forms already in use — Persie, Seph, Sephy — so there is an everyday option built in.
- Follows the familiar Greek four-syllable stress pattern of Penelope, so most readers guess it correctly.
- Recognizable across languages, with settled forms in French, Spanish, Italian and Russian.
- Distinctive without being invented: rare in classrooms, yet known to anyone who has read Greek myth.
- The myth is not a gentle one — abduction, the underworld, a bargain about the dead. Most people think first of spring returning, but some will think of the darker half, and it comes up often enough that it is worth being ready for.
- Expect a share of people saying 'per-se-PHONE' on first sight, and a lifetime of gentle corrections. The name is long for forms, name tags and school worksheets.
- Its use is heavily concentrated among very young children right now, so it reads as a contemporary choice rather than a family-heirloom one, despite its age.
- She will most likely be the only Persephone in her school — an advantage most days, and a small explaining job on the others.
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What they receive
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Persephone
Feminine · #734 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Persephones are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,900 people named Persephone are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Persephone in 2025?
- Persephone ranks #734 among US girl names in 2025, with 372 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Persephone?
- About 1 in every 4,321 US girls born in 2025 was named Persephone — 372 in all.
- Will my child share the name Persephone with classmates?
- Persephone will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Persephone
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Laurel#734 · Ramona#733 · Taytum#732 · Kenzie#736 · Monica#736 · Abby#731 · Iliana#730 · Veda#738
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Persephone? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Persephone and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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