# The Big Bang Theory: What Will Penny's Last Name Be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 23, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817 "2011-11-23T00:16:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ec9cab/32.png) [@Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/61 "2011-11-27T02:13:14Z")
Rumplestiltskin ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/62 "2011-11-27T02:48:19Z")
[Dreadful.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_dreadful) Or, based on the alternative names for such a publication, Blood. I picked the third option in the poll, but the reference is also “proto-comic-book” geeky. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/63 "2011-11-27T03:34:12Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > I bet it’s revealed to be something that will get the guys in a huge tizzy. I bet she is related to someone famous in the geek community > [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > There is also the possiblity that the guys do not know her real name. She is an actress and could be going by a stage name for SAG/Equity reasons. They may know her as Penny \ and find out she is really \. Oh, what if you’re both right? I can easily see this happening, and her playing it off like it’s no big deal when they learn her non-stage name. ---
**Author:** ![CBEscapee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/64 "2011-11-27T04:11:10Z")
Buffet and the boys will all speculate if she is related to Warren. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/65 "2011-11-27T18:15:55Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > We’ll learn that Penny _ **is** _ her last name, but everybody including her family calls her that. Her first is Wheat, named after her father’s cash crop. Maybe her last name is “Wheaton”? Like in “Evil Wil”? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/66 "2011-11-27T21:04:18Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Maybe her last name is “Wheaton”? Like in “Evil Wil”? Again, Leonard certainly knows her last name. So nothing that surprising. The idea of Penny having a stage name and whether that name appears on the mail and packages that Leonard has picked up for her puts a little bit of a twist on things. But for someone who basically hasn’t really worked as an actress, it would be unusual for her everyday mail to be under her stage name. I’m still leaning towards alliteration plus a mild or obscure geek reference. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/67 "2011-11-27T21:54:22Z")
Why would there be a geek reference? None of the other characters’ names are geek references. (With the possible exception of Leonard, who I always thought might be named in honour Douglas Hofstadter - who has a PH.D in physics, although he arguably owes his fame to his entertaining, imaginative, and enlightening popular writing on the nature of cognition.) Or have I just missed a buttload of obscure geeky references in the characters’ names? ---
**Author:** ![ric62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@ric62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ric62)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/68 "2011-11-28T00:13:50Z")
How about Cuoco? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/69 "2011-11-28T00:55:08Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > None of the other characters’ names are geek references. Leonard and Sheldon are a triple reference when taken together, though only their last names are science-geeky…their forenames are TV-geeky. From Wiki (the page for Leonard): > [@](#): > > Leonard and Sheldon are named after actor/producer Sheldon Leonard,[2] and Nobel Prize Laureates Robert Hofstadter and Leon Cooper.[3] (Unfortunately, the cite for the latter two is in Spanish…maybe Portuguese…either way, a language I don’t speak.) ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/70 "2011-11-28T01:42:21Z")
Spanish, FTR. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/71 "2011-11-28T02:31:00Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Leonard and Sheldon are a triple reference when taken together, though only their last names are science-geeky…their forenames are TV-geeky) Ah, nice. Up there with the SS Minnow. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/72 "2011-11-28T13:20:33Z")
Stamps (when I was a kid, I knew a girl named Penny Stamps). Stocks. Saver. Loafer. Pincher. Foryourthoughts. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/73 "2011-11-28T14:58:50Z")
People don’t know about the “Sheldon Leonard” thing or the “Hofstadter” thing? Oh. (“Cooper” is just too common to link to any one person without a hint.) Another one is Sheldon’s rival “[Kripke](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Kripke)”. (I’ve written a paper that’s cited Kripke. Perhaps a leg up there. I also gave Douglas Hofstadter a ride to the airport once. But that’s not really a plus for me.) (The actor who plays Kripke was recently on _Bones_. He didn’t speak in such an annoying voice, but it was still “off” in a way.) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/74 "2011-11-28T15:48:56Z")
I read in TV Guide that the three characters were initially named “Lenny, Kenny, & Penny.” That was too cutesy (ya think?), so someone suggested chaning “Lenny” to “Leonard,” and someone else said “and Sheldon.” Somehow, Sheldon Cooper seems to fit the character so well. ---
**Author:** ![hendersonmd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@hendersonmd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hendersonmd)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/75 "2012-03-22T20:28:36Z")
I would guess Overton, the Cheesecake Factory founder. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/76 "2012-03-22T21:10:46Z")
Drops? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/77 "2012-03-22T23:10:23Z")
Didn’t one of the Carradine brothers (Robert?) play Penny’s Dad? So Leonard would certainly have been introduced to him. It’s not reasonable to buy that Leonard does not know Penny and her Dad’s last name. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/78 "2012-03-23T00:10:39Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Didn’t one of the Carradine brothers (Robert?) play Penny’s Dad? So Leonard would certainly have been introduced to him. It’s not reasonable to buy that Leonard does not know Penny and her Dad’s last name. On Page 1 we all pretty much agreed that the guys know Penny’s last name but the audience does not. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/79 "2012-03-23T00:18:04Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Didn’t one of the Carradine brothers (Robert?) play Penny’s Dad? I was going to say that Robert wasn’t one of the Carradine brothers, he was the guy from _Revenge of the Nerds_ (so probably would be appropriate for Leonard’s Dad). But it turns out he _is_ one of the Carradine brothers, so there you go. Anyway, it was Keith Carradine who played Penny’s Dad. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817/80 "2012-03-23T00:21:32Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I’m still leaning towards alliteration plus a mild or obscure geek reference. Penny Priddy? ([The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Buckaroo_Banzai_Across_the_8th_Dimension)) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-what-will-pennys-last-name-be/603817.md?page=5)