Perley
Perley was last recorded in 1964, when 9 babies were given it; 1,052 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 1964 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Perley by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Perley mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Perley is “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Perley?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #3,003, in 1964; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
30 babies in 1915, the peak
Perley peaked in 1915, when 30 boys were given it, #1,209 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | 9 | #3,003 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 5 | #4,472 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 6 | #3,893 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 9 | #2,968 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 7 | #3,450 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 11 | #2,522 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 7 | #3,304 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 9 | #2,806 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 13 | #2,179 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 9 | #2,752 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (76)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | 11 | #2,414 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 9 | #2,821 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 9 | #2,653 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 10 | #2,357 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,802 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 6 | #3,466 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 10 | #2,488 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 8 | #2,828 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 26 | #1,326 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,409 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 15 | #1,879 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 18 | #1,674 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 10 | #2,412 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 13 | #2,105 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 9 | #2,702 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 23 | #1,444 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 21 | #1,575 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 30 | #1,274 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 26 | #1,457 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 24 | #1,513 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 21 | #1,689 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 16 | #2,107 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 21 | #1,703 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 24 | #1,569 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 24 | #1,618 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 19 | #1,856 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 23 | #1,628 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 22 | #1,695 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 26 | #1,492 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 26 | #1,439 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 18 | #1,884 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 24 | #1,472 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 22 | #1,538 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 30 | #1,209 | 0.04 |
| 1914 | 22 | #1,296 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 16 | #1,355 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 11 | #1,599 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 10 | #1,175 | 0.04 |
| 1909 | 5 | #1,633 | 0.03 |
| 1908 | 14 | #737 | 0.09 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,063 | 0.05 |
| 1904 | 5 | #1,354 | 0.04 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,100 | 0.05 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,270 | 0.04 |
| 1901 | 10 | #717 | 0.09 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,276 | 0.04 |
| 1899 | 9 | #767 | 0.08 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,261 | 0.04 |
| 1897 | 6 | #1,032 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 7 | #957 | 0.06 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,207 | 0.04 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,201 | 0.04 |
| 1893 | 11 | #641 | 0.10 |
| 1892 | 20 | #438 | 0.16 |
| 1891 | 9 | #686 | 0.09 |
| 1890 | 11 | #624 | 0.10 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,077 | 0.05 |
| 1888 | 9 | #743 | 0.07 |
| 1887 | 12 | #537 | 0.12 |
| 1886 | 12 | #567 | 0.11 |
| 1885 | 12 | #571 | 0.11 |
| 1884 | 8 | #744 | 0.07 |
| 1883 | 8 | #710 | 0.08 |
| 1882 | 10 | #637 | 0.09 |
| 1881 | 24 | #341 | 0.24 |
| 1880 | 18 | #420 | 0.16 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Perley a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,052 Americans recorded as Perley, 3% are girls and 97% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Perley: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Perley, and how old are they?
An estimated 123 Americans named Perley and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (12% of everyone recorded); the median is 78 years old and half are between 71 and 85. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 237 people named Perley (29 women and girls, 208 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 185 born in the U.S. The Census count is 28% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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 Perley born?
The states with the most babies named Perley are Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, with 95% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Maine and New Hampshire and Vermont are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | 204 | not ranked | 35.5× |
| New Hampshire | 31 | not ranked | 9.3× |
| Vermont | 23 | not ranked | 9.2× |
| Massachusetts | 15 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Perley is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Perley is most over-represented in Maine: since 1910 it was given 35.5 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 boys’ 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 Perley 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 Perley
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 Perley and names like it
- Compare Perley and RollaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sPerley peaked in 1915.
- Maine’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Perley since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Perley: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1915The year the most babies were named Perley.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Perley alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with PMost given first.