Pearline
Pearline was last recorded in 2016, when 5 babies were given it; 6,262 Americans have been recorded with it between 1889 and 2016 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,960 Americans named Pearline and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (31% of everyone recorded); the median is 76 years old and half are between 67 and 83.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Pearline by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Pearline mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Pearline is “a female given name originating as a coinage.”
Coined at the end of the 19th century from Pearl + -ine. Compare Pauline, Earline.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Pearline?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #18,213, in 2016; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
187 babies in 1927, the peak
Pearline peaked in 1927, when 187 girls were given it, #514 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 5 | #18,213 | under 0.01 |
| 1999 | 7 | #12,321 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 8 | #10,273 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 5 | #14,735 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 5 | #13,281 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 6 | #10,856 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 5 | #11,941 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 9 | #7,235 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 13 | #5,364 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 9 | #7,301 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (98)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 11 | #6,202 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 6 | #9,837 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,383 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 5 | #10,773 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 10 | #5,909 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,720 | under 0.01 |
| 1974 | 7 | #7,448 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 7 | #7,204 | under 0.01 |
| 1972 | 21 | #3,143 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 12 | #4,740 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 30 | #2,499 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 15 | #3,726 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 19 | #3,029 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 20 | #2,846 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 33 | #2,044 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 37 | #1,905 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 26 | #2,456 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 57 | #1,486 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 36 | #1,935 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 45 | #1,709 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 46 | #1,666 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 48 | #1,580 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 43 | #1,649 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 57 | #1,404 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 86 | #1,114 | 0.04 |
| 1955 | 78 | #1,135 | 0.04 |
| 1954 | 83 | #1,082 | 0.04 |
| 1953 | 79 | #1,089 | 0.04 |
| 1952 | 79 | #1,065 | 0.04 |
| 1951 | 75 | #1,073 | 0.04 |
| 1950 | 83 | #1,004 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 121 | #785 | 0.07 |
| 1948 | 100 | #874 | 0.06 |
| 1947 | 94 | #917 | 0.05 |
| 1946 | 101 | #826 | 0.06 |
| 1945 | 94 | #772 | 0.07 |
| 1944 | 110 | #723 | 0.08 |
| 1943 | 113 | #729 | 0.08 |
| 1942 | 102 | #751 | 0.08 |
| 1941 | 110 | #673 | 0.09 |
| 1940 | 123 | #638 | 0.11 |
| 1939 | 106 | #662 | 0.10 |
| 1938 | 141 | #579 | 0.13 |
| 1937 | 122 | #611 | 0.11 |
| 1936 | 145 | #545 | 0.14 |
| 1935 | 158 | #509 | 0.15 |
| 1934 | 139 | #547 | 0.13 |
| 1933 | 171 | #485 | 0.17 |
| 1932 | 146 | #540 | 0.14 |
| 1931 | 148 | #544 | 0.14 |
| 1930 | 139 | #582 | 0.12 |
| 1929 | 149 | #560 | 0.13 |
| 1928 | 146 | #585 | 0.13 |
| 1927 | 187 | #514 | 0.16 |
| 1926 | 168 | #538 | 0.14 |
| 1925 | 178 | #534 | 0.15 |
| 1924 | 156 | #593 | 0.12 |
| 1923 | 133 | #638 | 0.11 |
| 1922 | 142 | #614 | 0.12 |
| 1921 | 140 | #624 | 0.11 |
| 1920 | 135 | #614 | 0.11 |
| 1919 | 118 | #639 | 0.10 |
| 1918 | 101 | #720 | 0.09 |
| 1917 | 109 | #654 | 0.10 |
| 1916 | 101 | #682 | 0.10 |
| 1915 | 74 | #773 | 0.08 |
| 1914 | 88 | #611 | 0.12 |
| 1913 | 44 | #802 | 0.07 |
| 1912 | 35 | #857 | 0.06 |
| 1911 | 37 | #718 | 0.09 |
| 1910 | 43 | #656 | 0.11 |
| 1909 | 41 | #612 | 0.12 |
| 1908 | 32 | #693 | 0.10 |
| 1907 | 23 | #788 | 0.07 |
| 1906 | 23 | #774 | 0.08 |
| 1905 | 17 | #917 | 0.06 |
| 1904 | 30 | #638 | 0.11 |
| 1903 | 15 | #923 | 0.06 |
| 1902 | 8 | #1,415 | 0.03 |
| 1900 | 13 | #1,094 | 0.04 |
| 1899 | 9 | #1,168 | 0.04 |
| 1898 | 8 | #1,355 | 0.03 |
| 1897 | 8 | #1,240 | 0.03 |
| 1896 | 9 | #1,190 | 0.04 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,763 | 0.02 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,606 | 0.02 |
| 1891 | 6 | #1,306 | 0.03 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,443 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Pearline a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Pearline has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 98 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Pearline: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Pearline, and how old are they?
1,960 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 31% of the 6,262 Americans ever recorded as Pearline. The median Pearline alive today is 76 years old; half are between 67 and 83.
The 2020 Census counted 2,382 people named Pearline (2,376 women and girls, 6 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,596 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 644 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 224 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 58 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 7 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5 |
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 Pearline born?
The states with the most babies named Pearline are Mississippi, South Carolina and North Carolina, with 40% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Mississippi and South Carolina are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 616 | not ranked | 4.9× |
| South Carolina | 609 | not ranked | 4.9× |
| North Carolina | 514 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| Texas | 468 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Georgia | 444 | not ranked | 2.4× |
| Alabama | 419 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| Arkansas | 376 | not ranked | 3.6× |
| Tennessee | 257 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Louisiana | 189 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Virginia | 149 | not ranked | 1.0× |
Where Pearline is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Pearline is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1910 it was given 4.9 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 Pearline 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 9,046 babies since 1880, Pearline is the most given (69% 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 Pearline
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 Pearline and names like it
- Compare Pearline and PearleneBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sPearline peaked in 1927.
- Mississippi’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Pearline since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Pearline: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1927The year the most babies were named Pearline.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Pearline alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with PMost given first.