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BabyNames
Girl name#354 of girl names

Penelope

Pronounced P AH0 N EH1 L AH0 P IY0 (ARPABET)

  • 4 syllables
  • Peaked 2019
  • 145 years in use
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How popular is Penelope?

Penelope is a girls' name, and has been in the record since the data starts in 1880. It has been given to 103,493 children — the 354th most common girls' name on record.

It is climbing hard: about three times as many births in the past decade as in the one before it. Its best single year was 2019, when 6,745 children were given it.

02,5005,0007,50010,00018901920195019802010
2019Girls: 6,745Boys: 0

Characteristics

  • Alliterative
  • 4 syllables
Phonetic detail
Pronunciations:
P AH0 N EH1 L AH0 P IY0
Stress pattern:
0100
Syllables:
4

Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.

Names like Penelope

Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.

Sibling names for Penelope

Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.

Frequently asked questions

How popular is the name Penelope?
Penelope ranks 354th among girls' names in US records, with 103,493 births since 1880. Over the past decade it accounts for 63,140.
Is Penelope a unisex name?
No. Penelope is recorded almost entirely as a girls' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.
When was Penelope most popular?
2019, when 6,745 children were given the name. It has been in use for 145 years and is still recorded as of 2024.