Girls' name · peaked in 1963
Penny name popularity since 1925
100,536 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Penny. Half of them were born in 1962 or earlier, so the typical Penny is about 64 years old in 2026. Penny peaked in 1963 as the #86 name for girls, and it ranked #740 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 100,536
- Named Penny, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- #740
- for girls in 2025 (368 babies)
- Girls / boys
- 99.6% girls
- 100,173 girls · 363 boys
- Most popular in
- Vermont
- 2.70× its national share
Peak year is the year Penny made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Penny births per year, 1925–2025
1963 was the biggest year for Penny both by count and as a share of all babies.
- Fastest rise: Between 1936 and 1941, Penny became 5.5× more common, from 1 in 10,400 baby girls to 1 in 1,900.
- Steepest fall: Between 1978 and 1983, its share of baby girls fell by 64%, from 1 in 2,040 to 1 in 5,660.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Penny's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Penny.
Decade by decade
Babies named Penny in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 257 | 5 | – |
| 1930s | 1,128 | 23 | #790 |
| 1940s | 13,113 | 64 | #183 |
| 1950s | 25,123 | 87 | #161 |
| 1960s | 38,220 | 132 | #97 |
| 1970s | 12,578 | 52 | #235 |
| 1980s | 2,951 | 0 | #671 |
| 1990s | 783 | 0 | #2,118 |
| 2000s | 623 | 0 | #3,116 |
| 2010s | 3,024 | 0 | #759 |
| 2020–25 | 2,373 | 0 | #740 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
55.9% of babies named Penny from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:
Where Penny is most popular
The index compares Penny's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Penny.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Vermont | 2.70× | 441 |
| Montana | 2.15× | 615 |
| Indiana | 1.91× | 4,422 |
| Idaho | 1.74× | 679 |
| Maine | 1.67× | 698 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Penny and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Penny (this page) | 100,173 | 1963 |
| Pennie | 5,283 | 1963 |
| Penni | 2,606 | 1964 |
| Penney | 1,951 | 1962 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Penny's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Penny.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Penny (1963).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data