Pearlie
Pearlie was last recorded in 2023, when 6 babies were given it; 18,828 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 2023 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,240 Americans named Pearlie and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (28% of everyone recorded); the median is 77 years old and half are between 69 and 84.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Pearlie by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Pearlie?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,740, in 2023; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
411 babies in 1928, the peak
Pearlie peaked in 1928, when 411 babies were given it (388 girls, #341 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 6 | #14,740 | under 0.01 |
| 2015 | 9 | #11,612 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 6 | #16,058 | under 0.01 |
| 2011 | 5 | #18,883 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 5 | #17,713 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 5 | #15,101 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 9 | #9,284 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 7 | #11,149 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 19 | #5,001 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 9 | #8,537 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (119)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 7 | #10,050 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 6 | #10,855 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 6 | #10,493 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 9 | #7,384 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 7 | #8,862 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 11 | #6,099 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 12 | #5,796 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 9 | #7,210 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 14 | #5,154 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 13 | #5,324 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 10 | #6,262 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 19 | #3,872 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 16 | #4,101 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 14 | #4,527 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 16 | #3,979 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 21 | #3,204 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 30 | #2,435 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 38 | #2,159 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 29 | #2,561 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 27 | #2,560 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 39 | #1,933 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 37 | #1,940 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 54 | #1,525 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 53 | #1,541 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 76 | #1,277 | 0.04 |
| 1963 | 84 | #1,198 | 0.04 |
| 1962 | 99 | #1,096 | 0.05 |
| 1961 | 98 | #1,114 | 0.05 |
| 1960 | 118 | #989 | 0.06 |
| 1959 | 141 | #868 | 0.07 |
| 1958 | 152 | #821 | 0.08 |
| 1957 | 161 | #795 | 0.08 |
| 1956 | 157 | #789 | 0.08 |
| 1955 | 191 | #678 | 0.10 |
| 1954 | 210 | #629 | 0.11 |
| 1953 | 198 | #634 | 0.11 |
| 1952 | 261 | #524 | 0.14 |
| 1951 | 243 | #538 | 0.13 |
| 1950 | 258 | #502 | 0.15 |
| 1949 | 325 | #439 | 0.19 |
| 1948 | 328 | #438 | 0.19 |
| 1947 | 300 | #476 | 0.17 |
| 1946 | 327 | #427 | 0.21 |
| 1945 | 305 | #406 | 0.23 |
| 1944 | 347 | #381 | 0.26 |
| 1943 | 333 | #402 | 0.24 |
| 1942 | 374 | #363 | 0.28 |
| 1941 | 327 | #375 | 0.27 |
| 1940 | 349 | #347 | 0.31 |
| 1939 | 336 | #351 | 0.31 |
| 1938 | 353 | #339 | 0.32 |
| 1937 | 390 | #315 | 0.37 |
| 1936 | 313 | #358 | 0.30 |
| 1935 | 308 | #361 | 0.29 |
| 1934 | 300 | #365 | 0.29 |
| 1933 | 303 | #365 | 0.30 |
| 1932 | 330 | #348 | 0.31 |
| 1931 | 295 | #374 | 0.28 |
| 1930 | 330 | #373 | 0.29 |
| 1929 | 366 | #337 | 0.33 |
| 1928 | 388 | #341 | 0.34 |
| 1927 | 363 | #356 | 0.30 |
| 1926 | 350 | #356 | 0.30 |
| 1925 | 379 | #347 | 0.31 |
| 1924 | 314 | #386 | 0.25 |
| 1923 | 317 | #373 | 0.26 |
| 1922 | 338 | #360 | 0.28 |
| 1921 | 345 | #357 | 0.28 |
| 1920 | 311 | #375 | 0.26 |
| 1919 | 355 | #340 | 0.31 |
| 1918 | 312 | #367 | 0.27 |
| 1917 | 282 | #379 | 0.26 |
| 1916 | 270 | #382 | 0.26 |
| 1915 | 250 | #383 | 0.25 |
| 1914 | 223 | #357 | 0.29 |
| 1913 | 200 | #341 | 0.32 |
| 1912 | 197 | #324 | 0.35 |
| 1911 | 163 | #310 | 0.39 |
| 1910 | 176 | #291 | 0.44 |
| 1909 | 140 | #308 | 0.40 |
| 1908 | 137 | #305 | 0.41 |
| 1907 | 134 | #303 | 0.42 |
| 1906 | 118 | #310 | 0.40 |
| 1905 | 136 | #284 | 0.47 |
| 1904 | 117 | #298 | 0.42 |
| 1903 | 112 | #296 | 0.43 |
| 1902 | 129 | #276 | 0.49 |
| 1901 | 113 | #280 | 0.47 |
| 1900 | 140 | #276 | 0.47 |
| 1899 | 97 | #299 | 0.42 |
| 1898 | 109 | #298 | 0.42 |
| 1897 | 105 | #276 | 0.45 |
| 1896 | 91 | #306 | 0.38 |
| 1895 | 109 | #268 | 0.47 |
| 1894 | 98 | #282 | 0.44 |
| 1893 | 89 | #285 | 0.42 |
| 1892 | 92 | #281 | 0.43 |
| 1891 | 76 | #290 | 0.41 |
| 1890 | 78 | #285 | 0.41 |
| 1889 | 68 | #293 | 0.38 |
| 1888 | 73 | #272 | 0.41 |
| 1887 | 65 | #263 | 0.45 |
| 1886 | 42 | #330 | 0.29 |
| 1885 | 45 | #301 | 0.34 |
| 1884 | 25 | #406 | 0.19 |
| 1883 | 33 | #311 | 0.29 |
| 1882 | 24 | #369 | 0.22 |
| 1881 | 22 | #358 | 0.24 |
| 1880 | 16 | #432 | 0.18 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Pearlie a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 18,828 Americans recorded as Pearlie, 96% are girls and 4% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Pearlie: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Pearlie, and how old are they?
5,240 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 28% of the 18,828 Americans ever recorded as Pearlie. The median Pearlie alive today is 77 years old; half are between 69 and 84.
The 2020 Census counted 4,585 people named Pearlie (4,452 women and girls, 133 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,889 born in the U.S. The Census count is 33% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,830 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,830 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 399 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 112 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 10 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 21 |
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 Pearlie born?
The states with the most babies named Pearlie are Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, with 41% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Mississippi and Alabama are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 2,252 | not ranked | 6.7× |
| Alabama | 1,966 | not ranked | 4.4× |
| Georgia | 1,676 | not ranked | 3.4× |
| Texas | 1,411 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| North Carolina | 1,358 | not ranked | 2.4× |
| Arkansas | 1,010 | not ranked | 3.6× |
| Louisiana | 941 | not ranked | 2.7× |
| South Carolina | 808 | not ranked | 2.4× |
| Tennessee | 790 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Kentucky | 649 | not ranked | 1.6× |
Where Pearlie is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Pearlie is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1910 it was given 6.7 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 Pearlie 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 26,153 babies since 1880, Pearlie is the most given (72% 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 Pearlie
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 Pearlie and names like it
- Compare Pearlie and PearleBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sPearlie peaked in 1928.
- Mississippi’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Pearlie since 1910.
- The top names of 1928The year the most babies were named Pearlie.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Pearlie alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with PMost given first.