Pearley
Pearley was last recorded in 1958, when 5 babies were given it; 851 Americans have been recorded with it between 1882 and 1958 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Pearley by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Pearley?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #6,775, in 1958; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
31 babies in 1926, the peak
Pearley peaked in 1926, when 31 babies were given it (23 girls, #1,816 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | 5 | #6,775 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 7 | #5,252 | under 5 | |
| 1956 | 10 | #4,096 | under 5 | |
| 1954 | 9 | #4,198 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 11 | #3,625 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 9 | #4,040 | under 5 | |
| 1951 | 10 | #3,655 | under 5 | |
| 1950 | 5 | #5,905 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 12 | #3,131 | under 5 | |
| 1948 | 11 | #3,302 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (64)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | 10 | #3,642 | 5 | #4,133 |
| 1946 | 9 | #3,607 | under 5 | |
| 1945 | 15 | #2,318 | under 5 | |
| 1944 | 7 | #3,980 | under 5 | |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,990 | under 5 | |
| 1942 | 14 | #2,515 | under 5 | |
| 1941 | 17 | #2,077 | 5 | #3,880 |
| 1940 | 23 | #1,673 | under 5 | |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,880 | under 5 | |
| 1938 | 12 | #2,543 | under 5 | |
| 1937 | 17 | #1,980 | under 5 | |
| 1936 | 8 | #3,323 | 7 | #3,085 |
| 1935 | 18 | #1,900 | 8 | #2,888 |
| 1934 | 10 | #2,890 | 6 | #3,579 |
| 1933 | 9 | #3,060 | 5 | #4,034 |
| 1932 | 16 | #2,106 | under 5 | |
| 1931 | 8 | #3,421 | under 5 | |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,966 | 9 | #2,952 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,548 | 7 | #3,465 |
| 1928 | 17 | #2,169 | 5 | #4,591 |
| 1927 | 18 | #2,156 | 5 | #4,650 |
| 1926 | 23 | #1,816 | 8 | #3,308 |
| 1925 | 20 | #1,996 | 6 | #4,082 |
| 1924 | 19 | #2,118 | 8 | #3,430 |
| 1923 | 13 | #2,693 | 6 | #4,131 |
| 1922 | 11 | #3,107 | 8 | #3,464 |
| 1921 | 12 | #2,898 | 8 | #3,431 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,444 | 7 | #3,737 |
| 1919 | 14 | #2,480 | 7 | #3,660 |
| 1918 | 17 | #2,182 | 8 | #3,300 |
| 1917 | 10 | #3,033 | 5 | #4,436 |
| 1916 | 10 | #2,988 | 7 | #3,431 |
| 1915 | 15 | #2,120 | 11 | #2,412 |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,516 | under 5 | |
| 1913 | 10 | #2,133 | 5 | #3,145 |
| 1912 | 15 | #1,464 | under 5 | |
| 1911 | 5 | #2,783 | under 5 | |
| 1909 | 5 | #2,470 | under 5 | |
| 1908 | 8 | #1,649 | under 5 | |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,780 | under 5 | |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,905 | under 5 | |
| 1905 | 9 | #1,394 | under 5 | |
| 1904 | 6 | #1,816 | under 5 | |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,744 | under 5 | |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,884 | under 5 | |
| 1900 | 9 | #1,404 | under 5 | |
| 1896 | 6 | #1,544 | 5 | #1,226 |
| 1895 | 7 | #1,399 | under 5 | |
| 1892 | 9 | #1,072 | under 5 | |
| 1890 | 6 | #1,310 | under 5 | |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,442 | 5 | #1,076 |
| 1886 | under 5 | 5 | #1,073 | |
| 1885 | 6 | #1,024 | under 5 | |
| 1882 | under 5 | 7 | #816 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Pearley a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 851 Americans recorded as Pearley, 79% are girls and 21% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Pearley: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Pearley, and how old are they?
An estimated 159 Americans named Pearley and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (19% of everyone recorded); the median is 80 years old and half are between 74 and 86. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 218 people named Pearley (154 women and girls, 64 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 230 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
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).
How common is the spelling Pearley?
Pearley is a less common spelling of Pearlie: SSA has recorded 851 Pearley and 18,828 Pearlie since 1880.
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 25,515 babies since 1880, Pearley is the fourth most given (3.3% of them).
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 Pearley
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 Pearley and names like it
- Compare Pearley and PearlieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sPearley peaked in 1926.
- Mississippi’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Pearley since 1910.
- The top names of 1926The year the most babies were named Pearley.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Pearley alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with PMost given first.