Pearl
Pearl was given to 350 girls in 2025, #777 among girls’ names; 163,010 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 26,700 Americans named Pearl and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (16% of everyone recorded); the median is 59 years old and half are between 18 and 79.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Pearl by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Pearl mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Pearl is “a female given name from English.”
Also “a male given name from English.”
From pearl.
(river in China): From Chinese 珠江 (Zhūjiāng, Zyu1 Gong1, “Pearl River”); calque of Chinese 珠 (zhū, zyu1, “pearl”).
(haven in Hawaii): From Hawaiian Wai Momi (“pearl water”); calque of Hawaiian momi (“pearl”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Pearl?
#777 among girls’ names, 2025
Pearl fell from #624 in 2015 to #777 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.26 to 0.22 per 1,000.
4,622 babies in 1918, the peak
Pearl peaked in 1918, when 4,622 babies were given it (4,521 girls, #56 among girls’ names). The 350 births of 2025 are 8% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 350 | #777 | 0.22 |
| 2024 | 351 | #804 | 0.22 |
| 2023 | 351 | #800 | 0.22 |
| 2022 | 382 | #756 | 0.23 |
| 2021 | 385 | #742 | 0.23 |
| 2020 | 351 | #777 | 0.22 |
| 2019 | 387 | #730 | 0.23 |
| 2018 | 460 | #645 | 0.27 |
| 2017 | 455 | #653 | 0.26 |
| 2016 | 549 | #567 | 0.31 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 461 | #624 | 0.26 |
| 2014 | 454 | #629 | 0.25 |
| 2013 | 424 | #673 | 0.24 |
| 2012 | 368 | #756 | 0.21 |
| 2011 | 335 | #807 | 0.19 |
| 2010 | 267 | #961 | 0.15 |
| 2009 | 269 | #985 | 0.15 |
| 2008 | 259 | #1,017 | 0.14 |
| 2007 | 269 | #994 | 0.14 |
| 2006 | 245 | #1,048 | 0.13 |
| 2005 | 190 | #1,206 | 0.10 |
| 2004 | 196 | #1,159 | 0.11 |
| 2003 | 203 | #1,090 | 0.11 |
| 2002 | 199 | #1,070 | 0.11 |
| 2001 | 208 | #1,035 | 0.12 |
| 2000 | 200 | #1,045 | 0.11 |
| 1999 | 162 | #1,192 | 0.09 |
| 1998 | 164 | #1,152 | 0.09 |
| 1997 | 138 | #1,278 | 0.08 |
| 1996 | 175 | #1,060 | 0.10 |
| 1995 | 159 | #1,116 | 0.09 |
| 1994 | 124 | #1,349 | 0.07 |
| 1993 | 156 | #1,137 | 0.09 |
| 1992 | 157 | #1,128 | 0.09 |
| 1991 | 142 | #1,214 | 0.08 |
| 1990 | 131 | #1,252 | 0.07 |
| 1989 | 140 | #1,172 | 0.08 |
| 1988 | 148 | #1,070 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 141 | #1,087 | 0.08 |
| 1986 | 162 | #978 | 0.09 |
| 1985 | 165 | #946 | 0.10 |
| 1984 | 169 | #888 | 0.10 |
| 1983 | 172 | #883 | 0.10 |
| 1982 | 190 | #828 | 0.11 |
| 1981 | 184 | #848 | 0.11 |
| 1980 | 168 | #901 | 0.10 |
| 1979 | 143 | #1,002 | 0.09 |
| 1978 | 132 | #1,035 | 0.09 |
| 1977 | 123 | #1,064 | 0.08 |
| 1976 | 143 | #919 | 0.10 |
| 1975 | 148 | #894 | 0.10 |
| 1974 | 148 | #880 | 0.10 |
| 1973 | 142 | #889 | 0.10 |
| 1972 | 168 | #807 | 0.11 |
| 1971 | 163 | #846 | 0.10 |
| 1970 | 161 | #842 | 0.09 |
| 1969 | 143 | #879 | 0.08 |
| 1968 | 172 | #759 | 0.10 |
| 1967 | 175 | #742 | 0.11 |
| 1966 | 195 | #702 | 0.12 |
| 1965 | 259 | #601 | 0.15 |
| 1964 | 284 | #587 | 0.15 |
| 1963 | 284 | #590 | 0.15 |
| 1962 | 364 | #510 | 0.19 |
| 1961 | 346 | #525 | 0.17 |
| 1960 | 372 | #505 | 0.18 |
| 1959 | 350 | #518 | 0.17 |
| 1958 | 388 | #483 | 0.19 |
| 1957 | 443 | #447 | 0.22 |
| 1956 | 468 | #420 | 0.23 |
| 1955 | 465 | #405 | 0.24 |
| 1954 | 492 | #387 | 0.25 |
| 1953 | 516 | #375 | 0.27 |
| 1952 | 516 | #362 | 0.28 |
| 1951 | 531 | #347 | 0.29 |
| 1950 | 588 | #320 | 0.34 |
| 1949 | 575 | #323 | 0.34 |
| 1948 | 690 | #290 | 0.41 |
| 1947 | 713 | #293 | 0.40 |
| 1946 | 677 | #285 | 0.43 |
| 1945 | 654 | #265 | 0.50 |
| 1944 | 756 | #238 | 0.57 |
| 1943 | 879 | #223 | 0.63 |
| 1942 | 1,092 | #191 | 0.81 |
| 1941 | 835 | #212 | 0.69 |
| 1940 | 907 | #197 | 0.79 |
| 1939 | 902 | #197 | 0.82 |
| 1938 | 1,005 | #189 | 0.91 |
| 1937 | 1,024 | #187 | 1.0 |
| 1936 | 1,120 | #172 | 1.1 |
| 1935 | 1,187 | #167 | 1.1 |
| 1934 | 1,338 | #154 | 1.3 |
| 1933 | 1,384 | #143 | 1.4 |
| 1932 | 1,618 | #138 | 1.5 |
| 1931 | 1,648 | #137 | 1.5 |
| 1930 | 2,069 | #121 | 1.8 |
| 1929 | 2,172 | #114 | 1.9 |
| 1928 | 2,367 | #110 | 2.1 |
| 1927 | 2,718 | #102 | 2.3 |
| 1926 | 2,899 | #96 | 2.4 |
| 1925 | 3,213 | #90 | 2.6 |
| 1924 | 3,635 | #78 | 2.9 |
| 1923 | 3,543 | #78 | 2.9 |
| 1922 | 3,848 | #71 | 3.2 |
| 1921 | 4,175 | #65 | 3.4 |
| 1920 | 4,204 | #62 | 3.5 |
| 1919 | 4,273 | #56 | 3.8 |
| 1918 | 4,521 | #56 | 3.9 |
| 1917 | 4,232 | #57 | 3.9 |
| 1916 | 4,073 | #57 | 3.9 |
| 1915 | 3,976 | #56 | 4.0 |
| 1914 | 3,223 | #56 | 4.2 |
| 1913 | 2,756 | #55 | 4.4 |
| 1912 | 2,528 | #54 | 4.5 |
| 1911 | 2,075 | #48 | 5.0 |
| 1910 | 2,177 | #39 | 5.5 |
| 1909 | 2,048 | #40 | 5.9 |
| 1908 | 2,075 | #39 | 6.2 |
| 1907 | 2,108 | #35 | 6.6 |
| 1906 | 2,035 | #35 | 6.9 |
| 1905 | 2,108 | #31 | 7.2 |
| 1904 | 2,015 | #30 | 7.3 |
| 1903 | 2,046 | #27 | 7.8 |
| 1902 | 2,100 | #28 | 8.0 |
| 1901 | 1,866 | #31 | 7.8 |
| 1900 | 2,512 | #24 | 8.4 |
| 1899 | 1,999 | #27 | 8.6 |
| 1898 | 2,158 | #26 | 8.3 |
| 1897 | 2,076 | #25 | 8.9 |
| 1896 | 2,101 | #25 | 8.8 |
| 1895 | 1,958 | #26 | 8.4 |
| 1894 | 1,789 | #28 | 8.0 |
| 1893 | 1,796 | #26 | 8.4 |
| 1892 | 1,831 | #26 | 8.6 |
| 1891 | 1,605 | #27 | 8.7 |
| 1890 | 1,741 | #24 | 9.1 |
| 1889 | 1,588 | #24 | 8.9 |
| 1888 | 1,591 | #26 | 8.9 |
| 1887 | 1,316 | #25 | 9.0 |
| 1886 | 1,204 | #29 | 8.3 |
| 1885 | 1,146 | #26 | 8.6 |
| 1884 | 1,138 | #25 | 8.8 |
| 1883 | 886 | #29 | 7.9 |
| 1882 | 824 | #33 | 7.6 |
| 1881 | 641 | #38 | 7.0 |
| 1880 | 569 | #47 | 6.3 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Pearl a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 163,010 Americans recorded as Pearl, 98% are girls and 2% boys. In 2025 it went to 350 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Pearl: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Pearl, and how old are they?
26,700 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 16% of the 163,010 Americans ever recorded as Pearl. The median Pearl alive today is 59 years old; half are between 18 and 79.
The 2020 Census counted 30,561 people named Pearl (30,101 women and girls, 460 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 31,698 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 5,550 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 7,010 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,450 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,450 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 3,630 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5,330 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Pearl born?
The states with the most babies named Pearl are New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois, with 23% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 11,061 | #299 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 8,554 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 5,014 | #656 | 0.8× |
| California | 4,724 | #763 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 4,593 | #1,253 | 0.7× |
| North Carolina | 4,312 | #817 | 1.1× |
| Virginia | 3,906 | #1,014 | 1.4× |
| Ohio | 3,704 | #705 | 0.7× |
| Louisiana | 3,134 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| South Carolina | 3,097 | not ranked | 1.3× |
Where Pearl is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Pearl is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1910 it was given 1.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Pearl with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 164,609 babies since 1880, Pearl is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 350 of their 434 babies (81%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Pearl
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Pearl and names like it
- Compare Pearl and PerelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sPearl peaked in 1918.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Pearl since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Pearl: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Pearl.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Pearl alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with PMost given first.