Pernell
Pernell was given to 6 boys in 2025, #11,656 among boys’ names; 3,312 Americans have been recorded with it since 1915 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,450 Americans named Pernell and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (74% of everyone recorded); the median is 52 years old and half are between 37 and 62.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Pernell by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Pernell?
#11,656 among boys’ names, 2025
Pernell rose from #13,526 in 2015 to #11,656 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 2.6 to 3.5 per million.
183 babies in 1964, the peak
Pernell peaked in 1964, when 183 babies were given it (178 boys, #593 among boys’ names). The 6 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | #11,656 | 3.5 |
| 2023 | 6 | #11,897 | 3.5 |
| 2022 | 6 | #11,947 | 3.4 |
| 2020 | 12 | #6,926 | 7.0 |
| 2019 | 10 | #8,053 | 5.6 |
| 2018 | 9 | #8,646 | 5.0 |
| 2017 | 14 | #6,252 | 7.6 |
| 2016 | 10 | #8,008 | 5.3 |
| 2015 | 5 | #13,526 | 2.6 |
| 2014 | 10 | #7,971 | 5.2 |
Every recorded year (109)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 12 | #6,915 | 6.3 |
| 2012 | 9 | #8,689 | 4.7 |
| 2011 | 16 | #5,601 | 8.4 |
| 2010 | 16 | #5,664 | 8.3 |
| 2009 | 14 | #6,340 | 7.1 |
| 2008 | 17 | #5,422 | 8.3 |
| 2007 | 15 | #5,842 | 7.2 |
| 2006 | 25 | #3,965 | 12.2 |
| 2005 | 11 | #6,986 | 5.5 |
| 2004 | 12 | #6,410 | 6.0 |
| 2003 | 20 | #4,228 | 10.1 |
| 2002 | 16 | #4,851 | 8.2 |
| 2001 | 21 | #3,938 | 10.8 |
| 2000 | 18 | #4,323 | 9.2 |
| 1999 | 20 | #3,797 | 10.4 |
| 1998 | 20 | #3,672 | 10.5 |
| 1997 | 20 | #3,548 | 10.6 |
| 1996 | 12 | #5,099 | 6.3 |
| 1995 | 31 | #2,479 | 16.3 |
| 1994 | 28 | #2,660 | 14.5 |
| 1993 | 29 | #2,555 | 14.8 |
| 1992 | 40 | #1,988 | 20.0 |
| 1991 | 51 | #1,640 | 25.2 |
| 1990 | 41 | #1,895 | 20.0 |
| 1989 | 51 | #1,581 | 25.5 |
| 1988 | 30 | #2,119 | 15.7 |
| 1987 | 41 | #1,673 | 22.0 |
| 1986 | 46 | #1,486 | 25.0 |
| 1985 | 50 | #1,382 | 27.1 |
| 1984 | 50 | #1,343 | 27.7 |
| 1983 | 43 | #1,463 | 24.0 |
| 1982 | 45 | #1,434 | 24.8 |
| 1981 | 37 | #1,623 | 20.7 |
| 1980 | 46 | #1,404 | 25.8 |
| 1979 | 37 | #1,588 | 21.5 |
| 1978 | 36 | #1,590 | 21.9 |
| 1977 | 38 | #1,504 | 23.1 |
| 1976 | 44 | #1,343 | 28.0 |
| 1975 | 45 | #1,296 | 28.8 |
| 1974 | 64 | #1,031 | 40.7 |
| 1973 | 77 | #922 | 49.4 |
| 1972 | 43 | #1,280 | 26.5 |
| 1971 | 35 | #1,456 | 19.8 |
| 1970 | 45 | #1,248 | 24.2 |
| 1969 | 43 | #1,214 | 24.0 |
| 1968 | 51 | #1,043 | 29.3 |
| 1967 | 59 | #947 | 33.8 |
| 1966 | 84 | #799 | 47.1 |
| 1965 | 148 | #624 | 79.6 |
| 1964 | 178 | #593 | 89.3 |
| 1963 | 149 | #645 | 73.4 |
| 1962 | 128 | #687 | 61.9 |
| 1961 | 68 | #930 | 32.0 |
| 1960 | 37 | #1,314 | 17.4 |
| 1959 | 23 | #1,698 | 10.8 |
| 1958 | 13 | #2,341 | 6.1 |
| 1957 | 22 | #1,742 | 10.2 |
| 1956 | 24 | #1,634 | 11.3 |
| 1955 | 18 | #1,890 | 8.7 |
| 1954 | 15 | #2,095 | 7.4 |
| 1953 | 13 | #2,261 | 6.6 |
| 1952 | 11 | #2,469 | 5.7 |
| 1951 | 15 | #2,027 | 8.0 |
| 1950 | 22 | #1,603 | 12.3 |
| 1949 | 24 | #1,536 | 13.5 |
| 1948 | 16 | #1,927 | 9.1 |
| 1947 | 17 | #1,896 | 9.3 |
| 1946 | 15 | #1,932 | 9.2 |
| 1945 | 11 | #2,215 | 8.2 |
| 1944 | 17 | #1,721 | 12.5 |
| 1943 | 15 | #1,970 | 10.5 |
| 1942 | 10 | #2,489 | 7.2 |
| 1941 | 14 | #1,975 | 11.4 |
| 1940 | 10 | #2,440 | 8.6 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,410 | 9.0 |
| 1938 | 16 | #1,799 | 14.4 |
| 1937 | 12 | #2,170 | 11.3 |
| 1936 | 13 | #2,042 | 12.5 |
| 1935 | 10 | #2,497 | 9.6 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,363 | 10.7 |
| 1933 | 11 | #2,332 | 11.1 |
| 1932 | 16 | #1,903 | 15.3 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,603 | 9.6 |
| 1930 | 9 | #2,955 | 8.2 |
| 1929 | 9 | #2,916 | 8.4 |
| 1928 | 16 | #2,030 | 14.4 |
| 1927 | 7 | #3,701 | 6.2 |
| 1926 | 12 | #2,529 | 10.8 |
| 1925 | 7 | #3,653 | 6.3 |
| 1924 | 7 | #3,770 | 6.2 |
| 1923 | 7 | #3,730 | 6.4 |
| 1922 | 9 | #3,185 | 8.3 |
| 1921 | 10 | #2,933 | 9.1 |
| 1920 | 12 | #2,570 | 11.3 |
| 1919 | 9 | #3,062 | 9.2 |
| 1918 | 14 | #2,238 | 13.8 |
| 1917 | 10 | #2,685 | 10.8 |
| 1916 | 9 | #2,880 | 10.1 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,729 | 7.1 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Pernell a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 3,312 Americans recorded as Pernell, 8% are girls and 92% boys. In 2025 it went to 6 boys; SSA lists no girls 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 Pernell: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Pernell, and how old are they?
2,450 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 74% of the 3,312 Americans ever recorded as Pernell. The median Pernell alive today is 52 years old; half are between 37 and 62.
The 2020 Census counted 1,967 people named Pernell (133 women and girls, 1,834 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,597 born in the U.S. The Census count is 24% 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 | 85 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 621 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 789 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 592 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 265 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 99 |
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 Pernell born?
The states with the most babies named Pernell are Virginia, Louisiana and New York, with 45% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Virginia and Louisiana are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | 168 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| Louisiana | 167 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| New York | 144 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Florida | 121 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| South Carolina | 90 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| North Carolina | 59 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| California | 53 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Georgia | 44 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 39 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 35 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Pernell is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Pernell is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1915 it was given 2.5 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 Pernell 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 Pernell
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 Pernell and names like it
- Compare Pernell and LorneBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sPernell peaked in 1964.
- Virginia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Pernell since 1910.
- The top names of 1964The year the most babies were named Pernell.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Pernell alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with PMost given first.