Pepper
Pepper was given to 102 girls in 2025, #1,907 among girls’ names; 3,551 Americans have been recorded with it since 1937 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,430 Americans named Pepper and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 13 years old and half are between 7 and 42.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Pepper by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Pepper?
#1,907 among girls’ names, 2025
Pepper fell from #1,503 in 2015 to #1,907 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 85.1 to 63.5 per million.
164 babies in 2021, the peak
Pepper peaked in 2021, when 164 babies were given it (156 girls, #1,403 among girls’ names). The 102 births of 2025 are 62% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 102 | #1,907 | 63.5 |
| 2024 | 127 | #1,635 | 78.4 |
| 2023 | 129 | #1,623 | 80.4 |
| 2022 | 156 | #1,438 | 95.1 |
| 2021 | 156 | #1,403 | 95.1 |
| 2020 | 132 | #1,589 | 81.7 |
| 2019 | 145 | #1,505 | 86.4 |
| 2018 | 131 | #1,630 | 77.0 |
| 2017 | 123 | #1,736 | 71.2 |
| 2016 | 136 | #1,621 | 76.7 |
Every recorded year (71)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 152 | #1,503 | 85.1 |
| 2014 | 161 | #1,419 | 90.1 |
| 2013 | 154 | #1,456 | 87.8 |
| 2012 | 135 | #1,610 | 76.7 |
| 2011 | 118 | #1,745 | 67.1 |
| 2010 | 98 | #2,039 | 55.1 |
| 2009 | 67 | #2,725 | 36.5 |
| 2008 | 30 | #4,985 | 15.9 |
| 2007 | 19 | #7,025 | 9.9 |
| 2006 | 28 | #5,062 | 14.7 |
| 2005 | 17 | #7,067 | 9.2 |
| 2004 | 8 | #12,452 | 4.4 |
| 2002 | 5 | #17,443 | 2.8 |
| 2001 | 10 | #9,914 | 5.6 |
| 2000 | 7 | #12,798 | 3.9 |
| 1999 | 8 | #11,111 | 4.5 |
| 1998 | 12 | #7,898 | 6.8 |
| 1997 | 5 | #15,489 | 2.9 |
| 1996 | 6 | #13,022 | 3.4 |
| 1995 | 6 | #12,925 | 3.4 |
| 1994 | 6 | #12,966 | 3.4 |
| 1993 | 5 | #15,122 | 2.8 |
| 1991 | 5 | #14,736 | 2.7 |
| 1990 | 5 | #14,576 | 2.6 |
| 1989 | 12 | #6,830 | 6.5 |
| 1988 | 7 | #10,052 | 3.9 |
| 1987 | 9 | #7,809 | 5.2 |
| 1986 | 10 | #6,974 | 5.8 |
| 1985 | 11 | #6,332 | 6.4 |
| 1984 | 21 | #3,833 | 12.5 |
| 1983 | 13 | #5,365 | 7.8 |
| 1982 | 20 | #3,985 | 11.8 |
| 1981 | 24 | #3,508 | 14.4 |
| 1980 | 35 | #2,688 | 21.1 |
| 1979 | 48 | #2,105 | 29.9 |
| 1978 | 63 | #1,684 | 41.1 |
| 1977 | 88 | #1,321 | 57.4 |
| 1976 | 119 | #1,041 | 81.2 |
| 1975 | 132 | #956 | 90.5 |
| 1974 | 27 | #2,738 | 18.4 |
| 1973 | 20 | #3,308 | 13.7 |
| 1972 | 22 | #3,029 | 14.5 |
| 1971 | 18 | #3,612 | 10.8 |
| 1970 | 15 | #3,992 | 8.6 |
| 1969 | 9 | #5,344 | 5.3 |
| 1968 | 15 | #3,563 | 9.1 |
| 1967 | 20 | #2,847 | 12.1 |
| 1966 | 17 | #3,121 | 10.0 |
| 1965 | 15 | #3,371 | 8.5 |
| 1964 | 15 | #3,472 | 7.9 |
| 1963 | 9 | #4,807 | 4.7 |
| 1962 | 20 | #2,788 | 10.2 |
| 1961 | 10 | #4,465 | 5.0 |
| 1960 | 8 | #5,073 | 4.0 |
| 1958 | 6 | #5,928 | 3.0 |
| 1956 | 10 | #4,097 | 5.0 |
| 1955 | 7 | #5,080 | 3.6 |
| 1954 | 9 | #4,200 | 4.6 |
| 1953 | 8 | #4,502 | 4.3 |
| 1952 | 5 | #6,205 | 2.7 |
| 1947 | 5 | #5,922 | 2.8 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Pepper a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 3,551 Americans recorded as Pepper, 93% are girls and 7% boys. In 2025 it went to 102 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 Pepper: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Pepper, and how old are they?
3,430 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 3,551 Americans ever recorded as Pepper. The median Pepper alive today is 13 years old; half are between 7 and 42.
The 2020 Census counted 2,818 people named Pepper (2,508 women and girls, 310 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,677 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 140 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 644 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 168 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 639 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,840 |
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 Pepper born?
The states with the most babies named Pepper are California, Utah and Florida, with 69% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Utah is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 20 | #1,264 | 0.8× |
| Utah | 7 | #589 | 2.2× |
| Florida | 6 | #2,088 | 0.5× |
| Texas | 5 | #3,674 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 5 | #1,641 | 0.3× |
| Virginia | 5 | #1,330 | 0.2× |
Where Pepper is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Pepper is most over-represented in Utah: since 1937 it was given 2.2 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 Pepper with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Pepper
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 Pepper and names like it
- Compare Pepper and MoanaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sPepper peaked in 2021.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Pepper since 1910.
- The top names of 2021The year the most babies were named Pepper.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Pepper alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with PMost given first.