The award-winning American sitcom The Big Bang Theory followed the lives of four hilarious nerds and blonde bombshell Penny for over a decade.
The CBS tv-series saw Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter, Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, Simon Helberg as Howard Wolowitz and Kunal Nayyar as Raj Koothrappali, go through amusing and awkward antics, often revolving around their love for science, comics, and sometimes even women.
In The Big Bang Theory, Leonard, a passionate experimental physicist, struggled for multiple seasons to catch the attention of his neighbour, Penny, played by Kaley Cuoco.
The waitress and aspiring actress who lived across the hall from Leonard and his flatmate and fellow physicist, Sheldon, quickly became part of the witty gang as well as a fan favourite.
The show featured new main female leads over the seasons, including Sheldon’s love interest, Amy Farrah Fowler, played by Mayim Bialik, and Howard’s wife, Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, played by Melissa Rauch.
However, Penny was recognised as the main and original female lead of the show.
Nevertheless, she was also the only character whose surname was never mentioned.
Indeed, as all other characters from the sitcom are listed with their last names on IMDb and Wikipedia - including recurrent comic book store manager, Stuart Bloom, played by Kevin Sussman - Penny’s character is simply listed as “Penny”.
As a matter of fact, The Big Bang Theory’s creators have never revealed nor confirmed what Penny's last name was.
It was suggested that the Nebraska-born Cheesecake factory waitress might have become Mrs Hofstadter, following her marriage to Leonard.
After the sitcom’s fourth season, Penny started dating the awkward physicist, before both characters going on to elope in season nine.
The wedding occurred during the season finale as the characters were seen at a small gathering with their family and friends.
Penny’s story concluded with a surprise pregnancy revelation, shortly after viewers learnt that she originally did not wish to have any children.
Nonetheless, Kaley’s character remained listed surname-less.
Back in 2017, Kaley told The Talk that she wished to learn what her character’s last name was.
She said: "I'd like to learn Penny's last name. It's never fair, it's never come up.”
The 35-year-old actress went on to poke fun at The Big Bang Theory’s elevator, which had been broken throughout all 12 seasons: “I'd like the elevator to get fixed,” she said. Kaley added: “These are small things."
Big Bang fans expressed multiple theories online, as many were eager to know what the quirky character’s surname was prior to getting married.
What do you think Penny's surname is? Let us know in the comments below...
A person on Reddit jokingly wrote: “I always like to think her last and middle name were also Penny.
“That's why Sheldon said it three times.”
Others suggested the names, "Teller" and "Wyatt", after Penny’s father.
A photo uploaded to Reddit seemed to show Kaley’s character holding a box delivered to her, with the name “Teller” on it.
Once again, neither creators nor the producers have confirmed the Big Bang's female lead's surname.
Kaley has since moved on to play Cassandra, the protagonist in her new HBO show, The Flight Attendant.
Moreover, despite The Big Bang Theory’s last episode airing in 2019, the show is still available to stream on All4 and Netflix .
