Persephone
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Meaning
goddess of spring
Say it: per-SEF-uh-nee
The story
A handful of pomegranate seeds keeps Persephone between two worlds. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hades abducts her while she gathers flowers. Her mother Demeter searches in grief, and the crops fail until the gods arrange Persephone's return. But she has eaten in the underworld, so the reunion cannot be permanent. She must spend part of the year below and part above with her mother. At Eleusis, this story became part of sacred mysteries connected with grain, death, and the hope of renewal. Calling Persephone merely a goddess of spring misses half the image: she is also queen of the dead, daughter and ruler, absence and return. The myth is not a prediction for a child. It gives the name something rarer than a tidy meaning, a story that can hold sorrow and reunion in the same fruit.
How popular is Persephone around the world?
In the United States, 2,261 babies were named Persephone between 2020 and 2025. In England and Wales, 77 girls named Persephone were born in 2025, the 520th most common name among girls that year.
Persephone is on the official records of the United States, England and Wales and Canada.
United States
1 in 9,600
In the United States, 2,261 babies were named Persephone between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Persephone peaked in the 2020s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
England and Wales
1 in 7,600
In England and Wales, 77 girls named Persephone were born in 2025, the 520th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Canada
1 in 26,000
In Canada, 14 girls named Persephone were born in 2024, ranked 1,615th among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Scotland
last on record 2023
Persephone is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
last on record 2015
Persephone is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Persephone
Most people given the name Persephone in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Persephone deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Persephone truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Persephone fits with your family’s names and surname.
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