Penelope

Penelope: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning: “weaver; duck”
Origin: Greek
Say it: puh-NEL-uh-pee · 4 syllables
Used for: Girls

From Greek Penelope, the name of Odysseus's faithful wife in Greek myth. The exact etymology is debated; traditional explanations connect it with a kind of duck or with weaving.

Greek names English names Names meaning faith Classic names Mythological names Literary names

How popular is Penelope?

20241,727 per million US babies

Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Compare with another name

Babies named Penelope in 20245,747

2024 rank#28 girls

Peak year2019

Total US babies since 1880103,268

Penelope is rising: use over the last five years is 2.2× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Penelope

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

Pennyweaver · English
Pennieweaver · Greek
Sophiawisdom · Greek
Sofiawisdom · Greek
Chloeyoung green shoot · Greek
Zoelife · Greek
Angelmessenger · Greek
Elenabright, shining light · Greek

Penelope questions

What does the name Penelope mean?

Penelope means "weaver; duck". It comes from Greek. From Greek Penelope, the name of Odysseus's faithful wife in Greek myth. The exact etymology is debated; traditional explanations connect it with a kind of duck or with weaving.

Is Penelope a boy or girl name?

Penelope is mainly a girl's name in US records (100% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Penelope?

5,747 US babies were named Penelope in 2024. Its peak year was 2019.

How do you pronounce Penelope?

Penelope is usually pronounced puh-NEL-uh-pee.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.