Pearly
Pearly was last recorded in 2022, when 7 babies were given it; 1,897 Americans have been recorded with it between 1884 and 2022 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Pearly by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Pearly?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #13,243, in 2022; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
61 babies in 1924, the peak
Pearly peaked in 1924, when 61 babies were given it (53 girls, #1,077 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 7 | #13,243 | under 5 | |
| 2021 | 5 | #17,072 | under 5 | |
| 2018 | 6 | #15,199 | under 5 | |
| 2017 | 7 | #13,756 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 8 | #12,877 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | 5 | #11,632 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 7 | #7,205 | under 5 | |
| 1968 | 5 | #7,858 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 5 | #7,328 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 5 | #7,250 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (85)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | 13 | #3,832 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 8 | #5,172 | 5 | #4,480 |
| 1961 | 7 | #5,697 | under 5 | |
| 1960 | 12 | #3,862 | under 5 | |
| 1959 | 18 | #2,839 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 20 | #2,640 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 12 | #3,627 | 5 | #4,404 |
| 1956 | 23 | #2,368 | under 5 | |
| 1955 | 15 | #3,062 | 5 | #4,250 |
| 1954 | 21 | #2,429 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 12 | #3,421 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 24 | #2,110 | 9 | #2,824 |
| 1951 | 29 | #1,832 | 5 | #4,112 |
| 1950 | 23 | #2,038 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 31 | #1,728 | 6 | #3,608 |
| 1948 | 30 | #1,729 | under 5 | |
| 1947 | 30 | #1,778 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 34 | #1,525 | 5 | #3,892 |
| 1945 | 24 | #1,731 | under 5 | |
| 1944 | 38 | #1,305 | under 5 | |
| 1943 | 27 | #1,651 | under 5 | |
| 1942 | 34 | #1,407 | under 5 | |
| 1941 | 41 | #1,180 | 11 | #2,301 |
| 1940 | 29 | #1,435 | under 5 | |
| 1939 | 40 | #1,155 | under 5 | |
| 1938 | 29 | #1,406 | 7 | #3,093 |
| 1937 | 41 | #1,128 | 5 | #3,890 |
| 1936 | 38 | #1,162 | under 5 | |
| 1935 | 26 | #1,479 | 5 | #4,027 |
| 1934 | 41 | #1,120 | 5 | #4,082 |
| 1933 | 28 | #1,394 | under 5 | |
| 1932 | 39 | #1,157 | 9 | #2,796 |
| 1931 | 24 | #1,583 | 6 | #3,664 |
| 1930 | 30 | #1,425 | under 5 | |
| 1929 | 33 | #1,328 | 11 | #2,557 |
| 1928 | 37 | #1,266 | 6 | #4,036 |
| 1927 | 31 | #1,478 | 7 | #3,699 |
| 1926 | 37 | #1,300 | 10 | #2,860 |
| 1925 | 46 | #1,148 | 6 | #4,083 |
| 1924 | 53 | #1,077 | 8 | #3,431 |
| 1923 | 25 | #1,719 | 7 | #3,727 |
| 1922 | 36 | #1,334 | 10 | #2,952 |
| 1921 | 37 | #1,291 | 9 | #3,161 |
| 1920 | 31 | #1,464 | 10 | #2,913 |
| 1919 | 31 | #1,416 | 7 | #3,661 |
| 1918 | 28 | #1,527 | 9 | #3,041 |
| 1917 | 25 | #1,543 | 8 | #3,140 |
| 1916 | 19 | #1,855 | under 5 | |
| 1915 | 18 | #1,869 | under 5 | |
| 1914 | 14 | #1,885 | 6 | #3,175 |
| 1913 | 24 | #1,141 | under 5 | |
| 1912 | 15 | #1,465 | 6 | #2,479 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,763 | under 5 | |
| 1910 | 16 | #1,156 | under 5 | |
| 1909 | 10 | #1,454 | under 5 | |
| 1908 | 11 | #1,331 | under 5 | |
| 1907 | 14 | #1,079 | under 5 | |
| 1906 | 8 | #1,524 | under 5 | |
| 1905 | 5 | #2,166 | under 5 | |
| 1904 | 14 | #993 | under 5 | |
| 1903 | 10 | #1,190 | under 5 | |
| 1901 | 9 | #1,208 | under 5 | |
| 1900 | 12 | #1,156 | under 5 | |
| 1899 | 6 | #1,550 | under 5 | |
| 1898 | 6 | #1,652 | under 5 | |
| 1897 | 11 | #1,025 | under 5 | |
| 1896 | 9 | #1,191 | under 5 | |
| 1894 | 7 | #1,326 | under 5 | |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,607 | under 5 | |
| 1892 | 5 | #1,619 | under 5 | |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,494 | under 5 | |
| 1890 | 6 | #1,311 | under 5 | |
| 1888 | 7 | #1,111 | under 5 | |
| 1887 | 5 | #1,271 | under 5 | |
| 1884 | 8 | #839 | under 5 |
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 Pearly a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,897 Americans recorded as Pearly, 89% are girls and 11% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Pearly: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Pearly, and how old are they?
An estimated 540 Americans named Pearly and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (29% of everyone recorded); the median is 77 years old and half are between 69 and 84. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 754 people named Pearly (666 women and girls, 88 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 703 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% above 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).
Where are babies named Pearly born?
The states with the most babies named Pearly are Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina, with 69% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Louisiana and Mississippi are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | 178 | not ranked | 4.8× |
| Mississippi | 39 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 39 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| South Carolina | 29 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 23 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Arkansas | 17 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 15 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Oklahoma | 12 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Florida | 11 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Alabama | 10 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Pearly is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Pearly is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1910 it was given 4.8 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 Pearly with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
How common is the spelling Pearly?
Pearly is a less common spelling of Pearlie: SSA has recorded 1,897 Pearly and 18,828 Pearlie since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 46,351 babies since 1880, Pearly is the fourth most given (4.1% of them). In 2025 none of their 139 babies recorded by SSA was a Pearly (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Pearly
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 Pearly and names like it
- Compare Pearly and PearlieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sPearly peaked in 1924.
- Louisiana’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Pearly since 1910.
- The top names of 1924The year the most babies were named Pearly.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Pearly alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with PMost given first.