Pinky

Girls' name

From English Pinky; literal meaning unconfirmed

Pinky has been given to 370 babies in the U.S. since 1883. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1951, with 14 recorded.

Babies named Pinky, 1992

1 in 427,000

Pinky over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Pinky: meaning, origin, and history

From English Pinky; literal meaning unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Pinky means

Pinky is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Pinky is used in Cebuano and Tagalog.

Pinky comes through English Pinky.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Tagalog, Pinky is pronounced /ˈpiŋki/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 370 girls were recorded with the name Pinky between 1883 and 1992. Its highest annual count was 14 in 1951; its best national rank was #1,025 in 1883.

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 Pinky?

Pinky had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1992, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1992: 1 in 427,000; 9 of 3,839,369 births
Among girls only: 1 in 205,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1992: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 295,695 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Pinky 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 1992 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 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 295,695 children born in 1992 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Pinky. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Pinkys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Pinky was born before 1946 — so the typical Pinky is around 79 today.

Median birth year: 1946; About 79 years old
Biggest decade: 1950s; 20.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 17.0%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 175; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1950s — 20.5% of all recorded uses (76).

Is Pinky 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1951 (14)
Years since peak: 74; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 25.4% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,025; 1883

Spellings of Pinky

Pinky is not the most common spelling — Cindy is, with 50.4% against Pinky's 0.07%.

Cindy50.4%257,294
Penny19.7%100,619
Vicky10.5%53,543
Mindy8.3%42,615
Pansy2.1%10,953
Lindy1.7%8,896
Ginny1.5%7,648
Windy0.97%4,971

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Pinky by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,025; 1883
Peak year: 1951; 14 that year
First recorded: 1883
Last recorded: 1992
All-time count: 370
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Pinky

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

Pina Pinkey Piney Pink Pinar Pinkie Franky Minky Ping Binky

Sibling names for Pinky

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

For a sister

Kathlyn Randy Oralia Roseanna Roseanne Louann Celestine Nanci

For a brother

Artis Val Williams Rogers Ivory Donn Jacky Ike

Explore around Pinky

Top names of 1951, Pinky's peak year The 1950s in full Other names that peaked in 1883 Girls' names starting with P