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Persephone

#735 in 2025Girls' name

Possibly thresher of corn

Persephone has been given to 4,960 babies in the U.S. since 1962. In 2025 it ranked #735 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2022, with 429 recorded.

Babies named Persephone, 2025

1 in 8,910

Persephone over time, 1880–2025

Girls
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Persephone: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly thresher of corn

Ancient Greek

What Persephone means

Persephone may mean “thresher of corn”.

Origin, language, and formation

Persephone is used in English. Its origins include Ancient Greek.

Persephone comes through Ancient Greek Περσεφόνη.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Persephone is pronounced /pɚˈsɛfəniː/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,960 girls were recorded with the name Persephone between 1962 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 429 in 2022; its best national rank was #683 in 2022.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #820 in 2020 to #735 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,334 in 2015 to #735 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Persephone?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 8,910
372 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 4,320
0.02% of girls
Rank, 2025
#735
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
6,178 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Persephone sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 1001%
School of 5005%

Put another way: gather 6,178 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Persephone. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Persephones were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Persephone was born before 2019 — so the typical Persephone is around 6 today.

Median birth year
2019
About 6 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
45.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
92.6%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
4,960
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 45.6% of all recorded uses (2,261).

Is Persephone rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+1
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+85
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+599
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.09×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
86.7%
Peak was 2022 (429)
Years since peak
3
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
15.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#683
2022

Where Persephone is used

Across 2016–2025, Persephone was most concentrated in New Mexico — about 1 in 1,667 girls, against 1 in 4,776 across all states with data. It was least common in Connecticut (1 in 20,000).

560 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New Mexico1 in 1,667
  2. 2Oregon1 in 1,818
  3. 3Oklahoma1 in 2,222
  4. 4Idaho1 in 2,564
  5. 5Colorado1 in 3,030
  6. 6Alaska1 in 3,226
  7. 7Arizona1 in 3,226
  8. 8Missouri1 in 3,333

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Persephone is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 45% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Persephone around the world

Where Persephone ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #520
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2023–2023
    #749
    in 2023
  • Canada
    2004–2024
    #1,615
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1990–2010
    #801
    in 2010

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Persephone by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#735
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 85
Best rank ever
#683
2022
Peak year
2022
429 that year
First recorded
1962
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,960
Count in 2025
372

Names similar to Persephone

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

HermionePersephaniePerryPeregrineSymonePerriPersephoniePerpetuaPersiaPercillaPermeliaSamonePersisPerlaPeriLeonePerrinPerelPerriePercySimonePerlitaPernellPerlie

Names with a curve like Persephone

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Persephone, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

EzraMarloweJovieDiorJourniAdaleeAilaLeilanyKeilaniNyomiAspynMaisy

Sibling names for Persephone

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Persephone

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