Penelope is a first name typically given to girls, but in rare cases also used as a boys name.
The first name Penelope is one of the top 100 most popular girls names in the US – currently at #30 in our SmartGenius ranking. Over 1,000 babies each year are named Penelope, accounting for approximately 0.40 % of all newborn girls. In the entire USA, approximately 86,915 people – children, adults and seniors – currently bear the name Penelope. That is 0.03 % of all living Americans.
The first name Penelope is based on the mythological figure of the same name – the wife of Odysseus. The name can presumably be traced back to the two components ‘pēnē’ for ’tissue’ and ‘lépein’ for ‘tear off’. This may refer to the fact that Penelope put off Odysseus rivals during his absence by saying that she would have to weave a shroud before she could have a new husband. Each night she unraveled the woven cloth again to escape the suitors.
Penelope Ann Miller (*1964)
Penelope Ann Miller is an American actress who has appeared in a variety of films, television shows and plays. Some of her most notable films are 'Kindergarten Cop' (1990), 'The Shadow' (1994), and 'Carlito's Way' (1993). Miller has also appeared in television series such as 'Mistresses' (2013-2014) and 'Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story' (2022). She has received awards and nominations for her performances in various films and television series.
Pen鬯pe Cruz (*1974)
Spanish actress and Academy Award winner Pen鬯pe Cruz has starred in many well-known films, such as "Vanilla Sky" (2001), "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (2008), "Nine" (2009) and "The 355" (2022). Cruz was the first Spanish woman to be nominated for an Academy Award and has also won several awards for her performances in Spanish films, including a Goya for Best Actress for "La ni????e tus ojos" (1998). Cruz is a versatile actress who has enjoyed success in both Spanish and English films.
Penelope Fitzgerald (1916 - 2000)
The British writer and literary critic is known for her short stories and novels, which often tell stories from the past and have clear, precise prose. Some of her best-known works include 'The Bookshop' (1978), 'The Beginning of Spring' (1988) and 'The Blue Flower' (1995). Fitzgerald has won many literary awards, including the Booker Prize for her novel 'Offshore' (1979). Although she came to writing late in life, she quickly made a name for herself as a talented and original writer.
Penelope
Penelope is the wife of Odysseus, the hero of the epic poem 'Odyssey' by Homer. The saga describes how Penelope faithfully and patiently waits for her husband's return during the Trojan War and his subsequent travels. Despite many attempts by other men to marry her, Penelope remains faithful to her husband and refuses to choose a new husband until Odysseus returns. Penelope is often seen as a symbol of fidelity and patience in Greek mythology.
When you hear the name Penelope, you might first think of a woman or a girl. But did you know that there are also places with the name Penelope? Are you also called Penelope? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...
is a massive and rocky promontory on the Pennell Coast of Victoria Land, East Antarctica. It is named after the nickname 'Penelope' for Lieutenant Harry Lewin Lee Pennell.
Penelope is an asteroid of the main belt named after Penelope, the wife of Odysseus from Greek mythology.
is a small town in Hill County in the state of Texas in the United States. Other small towns with this name can be found in New York and North Carolina.
Nine ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Penelope, named after Odysseus' wife, Penelope.
#21 - this is the highest rank Penelope has ever achieved. Not many names manage to reach such a high popularity in even one of the 140+ years of recording. The last time Penelope reached this top spot was in 2022 when 6,393 newborn girls were given this name. But as our statistics show, Penelope hasn't always been a popular name: in some years of record, most recently in the year 1908, not a single newborn or less than 5 were named Penelope (a name is only included in the official statistics if it has been given at least 5 times in a year). Nevertheless, the name Penelope has accompanied people in this country for a long time. It turns out that this name fits very well into our time today. From zero to hero - even though it took a while for Penelope to really catch on, it has become a very popular name.
In years where the graph has no value, the name Penelope was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.
The name Penelope may not be in the top rankings of the most popular girls’ names, but it is one of the few female given names, along with only 536 others, that can be found in every single state in the U.S. from Alaska to Florida and from California to New York. Of course, the name occurs more frequently in some states than in others – and Penelope is apparently especially popular in Nevada. Although the name is not one of the top 100 most popular women’s names here either, one in 623 women in Nevada is called Penelope. In total, that’s 717 women who feel addressed when the name Penelope is shouted loudly across Nevada and who ensure that their name makes it to #175 in our SmartGenius ranking of the most common female names in this nice state. If you asked all women in the entire U.S. for their first name, you would hear Penelope as the answer a total of 86,915 times. This places Penelope at #370 in our SmartGenius statistics for the most popular women’s names in the whole of the USA. This is true for all currently living women across all states and age groups – the recent popularity of the name Penelope as a baby name is, of course, a bit different, as you can see from the statistics above.
Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter P is quite rare as an initial letter for girls' names: only 1.6% of all common girls' names in the US begin with a P, which means that this initial occurs only about half as often as the other letters on average. Nevertheless, P is by no means the rarest initial. While A, S and M are the most common first letters of girls' names, Q, X and U are the least common initials of feminine first names.
With eight letters, the name Penelope is long compared to other names. In fact, 14.5% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly eight letters. 78% of all first names are shorter, while only 8% of all boys’ and girls’ names use nine letters or even more. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long with no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.
That means that since 1.6% of all girls’ names begin with a P, this initial occurs less than half as often as the other letters on average. By the way, of the comparatively few girls' names that begin with a P, Patricia is currently the most common.
If your name is Penelope and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...
So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Penelope, you can simply say:
Pig
Elephant
Nut
Elephant
Lion
Orange
Pig
Elephant
Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.
Penelope
Penelope
Just use American Sign Language!
These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.
P
E
N
E
L
O
P
E
In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.
P
E
N
E
L
O
P
E
In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Penelope sounds like this:
