Penelope · Daily fortune

Penelope is a feminine name from Greek mythology. Behind the Name says it is probably derived from Greek πηνέλοψ (penelops), a type of duck, and alternatively from πήνη (pene) "threads, weft" and ὄψ (ops) "face, eye". In Homer's Odyssey it belongs to the wife of Odysseus, who fends off suitors while her husband is away at Troy. It has been used occasionally as an English given name since the 16th century, rose moderately in the 1940s and sharply in the early 2000s, and ranked #22 among American girls' names in 2025.

This is a genuinely unresolved name, and both sources say so. Behind the Name's first reading is the odd one: Penelope is "probably derived from Greek πηνέλοψ (penelops), a type of duck". Its alternative is the one that fits the story — πήνη (pene) "threads, weft" plus ὄψ (ops) "face, eye". Wikipedia agrees the meaning is uncertain, gives the duck as one possibility and the weaving compound as the other, and adds a variant in which ops is instead lepo, "unravelled", with the sense "weaver". The weaving readings are attractive because of the character's association with weaving, which is also a reason to be careful with them: a myth can attract an etymology as easily as an etymology can generate a myth. Nothing in the sources settles it, so this profile records the confidence as uncertain.

The name's whole early history is one text. In Homer's Odyssey, Penelope is the wife of Odysseus, left to fend off suitors for twenty years while her husband fights at Troy and then fails to come home. Behind the Name records that it has been used only occasionally as an English given name since the 16th century, which is a long, thin line rather than a tradition. The modern story is two upswings: it was moderately popular in the 1940s and had a more notable rise in the early 2000s, which Behind the Name suggests may have been inspired by the Spanish actress Penélope Cruz (born 1974) as she gained prominence in English-language films. Behind the Name is careful about the celebrity-naming claim often made about it: the name "was already rapidly rising" when Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick gave it to their daughter in 2012. Wikipedia describes the name as revived in the Anglosphere by the mid-16th century and now among the most popular girls' names in Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland and the United States.

Penelope ranked #22 for girls in the United States in 2025 (Social Security Administration). Behind the Name describes the shape of the rise rather than the numbers: occasional English use from the 16th century, moderate popularity in the 1940s, and a notable upswing beginning in the early 2000s. Wikipedia adds that the name is currently among the most popular for girls in Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland and the United States, without giving ranks. No historical American series was fetched for this profile.

Behind the Name gives a single English pronunciation, /pə.ˈnɛl.ə.pi/ — pə-NEL-ə-pee, four syllables with the stress on the second and a final vowel that is "ee", not a silent e. The other forms below are the ones Behind the Name lists; their pronunciations were not verified in this pass.

Penelope is long, Greek and slightly arch — four syllables with a bounce in the middle, which is what keeps it from feeling stately in the way Theodora or Josephine do. It carries an unusually strong single association, and parents tend to either want the Odyssey connection or not think about it at all. The practical case for it is the same as for Sebastian on the boys' side: a substantial certificate name with an easy everyday short form, in this case Penny, which is warm and mid-century in a way the full name is not. It sits with Josephine, Beatrice and Evangeline in the current preference for long, ornate girls' names that shorten well.

The bearers below are the ones named in the Behind the Name entry and the Wikipedia article consulted for this profile.

Names that share Penelope's length and ornateness, its Greek origin, or its sound.