# Penn (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/penn/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 19,409 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,849 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 15,907 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.3% (18,601 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, named after various places such as Penn in Buckinghamshire or Staffordshire, of Brythonic origin, from Proto-Brythonic *penn (“(hill) top, head”). * Also as an English surname, from the noun pen (“enclosure”). * Also as an English surname, spelling variant of Parnell. * As a German surname, from Sorbian pien (“tree stump”), from Proto-Slavic *pьňь.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Penn in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 51% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 39% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.3% |
| Two or more races | 3.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Penn in the United States.

## People named Penn

- Sean Penn, American actor
- Kal Penn, American actor, author, and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administra
- Arthur Penn, American producer and director (1922–2010)
- Chris Penn, American actor (1965–2006)
- Irving Penn, American photographer and photojournalist (1917–2009)
- Zak Penn, American screenwriter (born 1968)
- B.J. Penn, American mixed martial artist
- Dylan Penn, American model and actress
- Leo Penn, American director (1921–1998)
- Michael Penn, American musician (born 1958)
- Scoonie Penn, American basketball player (born 1977)
- Mark Penn, American political consultant

and 4 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Pena, Penny, Penney, Penna, Pen, Payne, Pham, Phan, Pina, Pan, Pino, Paine.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.