Skip to main content
Name Biscuit

Girl name

Penelope

Penelope ranks #36 out of 693 girl cat names in our data (the #1 girl cat name is Luna). Across all 3 places, 43 cats carry the name. It's also a dog name: #62 among girl dog names.
Penelope's popularity trend

Penelope's share of cats, year by year — or toggle to its yearly rank. Peak year by share: 2016.

0.05%0.1%0.15%20122014201620182019
Cats in our data
43
across 3 places
Popularity rank
#36
of 693 girl cat names
5-year rank move
+60
2014 → 2019
Gender split
99% female
99% female1% male

Gender split comes from 114 US shelter cats — the one source in our data that records a cat's sex.

What does Penelope mean?
/pɪˈnɛləpi/4 syllablesOrigin: Ancient Greek

Penelope's origin is traced by some scholars to an ancient Greek word for a type of duck, pēnélops, though the name is far better known from Homer's Odyssey. There, Penelope is the clever, faithful wife of Odysseus, famous for outwitting a house full of suitors while she waited years for his return.

Penelope is a graceful, storybook name with real substance behind it — elegant enough for a refined companion, but with a clever, resourceful streak built right in.

Etymology & pronunciation from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Where Penelope shows up

Cats named Penelope per place, against that place's total.

PlaceShare
TorontoON, CA0.11%
SeattleWA, US0.15%
Surf Coast ShireVIC, AU0.13%

Cat names like Penelope