Persephone
- Pronunciation
- [Per-se-fa-nee]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Myth Name (Wife Of Hades)
- Origin
- Greek
About the Name Persephone
Persephone is a Greek mythological name borne by the goddess of spring growth who, as the wife of Hades, also reigned as queen of the underworld. According to myth her annual descent and return explained the turning of the seasons, making her name a byword for rebirth, duality, and the eternal passage from light to darkness and back again — a story of remarkable depth and beauty that gives the name its haunting, romantic resonance.
That rich mythic heritage has fueled a striking recent surge for the name. Persephone first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2019, climbed to its peak in 2022 at #685, and continued strong, reaching #737 in 2024 after a place at #749 the year before — a fast, confident rise across just a few years, reflecting the modern appetite for elaborate, mythological girl names with lyrical sounds and storied associations.
Pronounced Per-se-fa-nee, the name unfolds across four flowing syllables and offers a wealth of spirited nicknames, including Persi, Sephy, Seph, and Effie. Its blend of classical grandeur and lush, melodic sound places it alongside Penelope, Calliope, and Athena for parents drawn to Greek myth with a romantic, dramatic flair. For families seeking a name that is at once ancient and fresh, ornate yet meaningful, Persephone offers a uniquely captivating choice steeped in one of mythology's most enduring tales.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Persephone
US Popularity History (2019–2025)
Annual US births named Persephone by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2022 with 428 girls named Persephone (girl rank #685 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #735 for girls (372 US births). That's 50 places below its 2022 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Persephone Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Persephone the strongest states are New Mexico, Idaho, Nevada.
Strongest girls-name states
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | #877 | 28 |
| 2 | Florida | #871 | 55 |
| 3 | Georgia | #861 | 48 |
| 4 | North Carolina | #861 | 55 |
| 5 | California | #839 | 150 |
| 6 | Minnesota | #823 | 31 |
| 7 | Tennessee | #822 | 53 |
| 8 | Texas | #819 | 235 |
| 9 | Massachusetts | #804 | 44 |
| 10 | Ohio | #768 | 81 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Persephone in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Persephone?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Persephone to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Persephone against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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