Boy · Old English
Penda
Say it: PEN-dah
Meaning
Uncertain. No agreed etymology; a Brittonic origin has been suggested but not shown.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Its wave through time
Rare in the records
In the United States
- 82 babies given this name since 1975
- At its height in 1975, about 1 in 182,200 girls
- Fewer than 5 babies a year in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
Famous bearers
- Penda, king of Mercia
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Anglo-Saxon charters, chronicles and church records
- Royal and noble genealogies
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.