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Name Lineage

    The surname Penn

    A surname, carried by 19,409 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex P500

    Penn: #1,849 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Penn #1,849, 19,409 people Penn: #1,849 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Penn #1,849, 19,409 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Penn is more common than 98.9% of them.

    Origin

    * 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.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 19,409 people named Penn in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 15,907 Americans. That is up 4.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 18,601.

    #1,849
    rank among US surnames
    19,409
    people in 2010
    6.6
    per 100,000 Americans
    +4.3%
    change since 2000 (was #1,765)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #1,840Burger19,48015,849
    #1,841Toledo19,47415,854
    #1,842Lovett19,47115,857
    #1,843Gipson19,47015,858
    #1,844Arce19,46415,862
    #1,845Wiseman19,43915,883
    #1,846Dobson19,41915,899

    Who is named Penn

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    51% of people named Penn identified as white (not Hispanic), 39% as Black (not Hispanic) and 4.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

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

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Penns

    16 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Sean Penn
      American actor, born 1960
    • Kal Penn
      American actor, author, and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administra, born 1977
    • 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, born 1978
    • Dylan Penn
      American model and actress, born 1991
    • Leo Penn
      American director (1921–1998)
    • Michael Penn
      American musician (born 1958)
    • Scoonie Penn
      American basketball player (born 1977)
    • Mark Penn
      American political consultant, born 1954

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Penn

    Penn has the Soundex code P500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code P500.

    Questions

    Where does the surname Penn come from?
    * 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…
    How common is the surname Penn?
    19,409 people in the United States had the surname Penn in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 15,907 Americans. It ranked 1,849th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Penn?
    In the 2010 Census, 51% of people named Penn identified as white (not Hispanic), and 39% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Penn?
    Sean Penn, American actor, followed by Kal Penn.
    Where is the surname Penn most common?
    Wikidata records people named Penn in the United States.
    Is the surname Penn getting more or less common?
    More common. 18,601 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 19,409 in 2010, up 4.3%.