Pearl
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning a precious gemstone.
Name Census estimates that about 25,131 living Americans carry the first name Pearl. It is a predominantly female name (97.6% of registrations). The average person named Pearl today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pearl births was 1918 (4,622 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pearl. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Pearl with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Pearl is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 3,922 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
25K
~ 1 in 13,639 Americans
Peak year
1918
4,622 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
1983 SSA rank
#802
Tracked since 1880
Census
Pearl in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 30,566 people with the first name Pearl, which placed it at #1,241 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,241
National first-name rank
People counted
31K
30,566 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pearl
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pearl is White at 55.3%. The next largest groups are Black (22.1%) and Hispanic (9.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Pearl described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Pearl at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.3% · 16,900
- Black or African American22.1% · 6,769
- Hispanic or Latino9.8% · 3,005
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.8% · 2,389
- Two or more races3.4% · 1,030
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 473
Gender
Gender distribution for Pearl
Pearl leans heavily female at 97.6% of total registrations, but 3,922 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Pearl as a male name
- Ranked #7,025 in 1983
- 5 male births in 1983
- Peak: 1918 (101 births)
Pearl as a female name
- Ranked #802 in 2024
- 350 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (4,521 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pearl leans strongly female. 30,101 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 460 male bearers (1.5%).
Popularity
Pearl: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pearl from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 34,520 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pearl by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Pearl during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pearls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois recorded the most babies named Pearl, while Nevada, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,052 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pearl
The name Pearl is an English word derived from the Old French word "perle", which in turn comes from the Latin word "perna" meaning a sea creature from which pearls were harvested. The name became popular in the 16th century, likely inspired by the admiration for the beauty and rarity of pearls as gemstones.
Pearls have been highly valued throughout history, and the name Pearl has been used as a metaphor for something precious and beautiful. In the Bible, pearls are mentioned as a symbol of great value in the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price from the Gospel of Matthew.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Pearl dates back to the late 16th century. Pearl Curwen was an English woman born in 1585 who was accused of witchcraft during the infamous witch trials in Pendle, Lancashire.
Another notable historical figure with the name Pearl was Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973), an American writer and novelist who was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938 for her novels about life in China.
Pearl White (1889-1938) was an American actress who starred in early 20th century silent film serials and is regarded as one of the first major American film stars.
Pearl Bailey (1918-1990) was an American actress, singer, and author, best known for her performances on stage and in films, including the 1967 film "Valley of the Dolls".
Pearl Primus (1919-1994) was an American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist who played a significant role in the development of modern dance and in introducing African and Caribbean dance forms to American audiences.
Pearl Jam, formed in 1990, is an American rock band that took their name as a tribute to the Pearl Baker peyote joke from the 1976 satirical novel "Cynthia Clegg" by Obadiah Hart.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Pearl
People
Pearl + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pearl as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Pearl: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pearl?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 25,131 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pearl going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 13,639 US residents.
Is Pearl a common name?
We classify Pearl as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 162,657 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pearl most popular?
The single biggest year for Pearl was 1918, when 4,622 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pearl is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pearl in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 30,566 people with the name Pearl, or 10.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,241 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Pearl in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Pearl?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pearl leans strongly female. 30,101 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 460 male bearers (1.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Pearl?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pearl is White at 55.3%. The next largest groups are Black (22.1%) and Hispanic (9.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Pearl most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pearl in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.3% (16,900 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Pearl in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pearl a female name?
Yes, 97.6% of people registered as Pearl in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Pearl still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pearl in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Pearl can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Pearl?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.