Percival
From Old French origins, meaning "pierce the veil" or "pierce the valley".
Name Census estimates that about 862 living Americans carry the first name Percival. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Percival today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Percival births was 2024 (93 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Percival. 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 Percival with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
862
~ 1 in 397,627 Americans
Peak year
2024
93 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,768
Tracked since 1880
Census
Percival in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,223 people with the first name Percival, which placed it at #10,750 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
#10,750
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,223 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
37.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Percival
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Percival is Black at 37.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (34.4%) and White (16.8%). 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 Percival 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 Percival at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American37.9% · 463
- Asian and Pacific Islander34.4% · 421
- White16.8% · 206
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 77
- Two or more races3.7% · 45
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 11
Popularity
Percival: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Percival from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 299 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Percival 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 Percival during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Percivals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Percival, while Tennessee, North Carolina, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Percival
The name Percival is derived from the Old French words "perc" and "val", meaning "valley" and "pierce" respectively. It is believed to have originated in the 12th century, during the time of the Crusades and the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Percival was the name of one of the Knights of the Round Table in Arthurian legends, known for his pure heart and his quest for the Holy Grail. This legendary figure was first mentioned in the 12th century French romance "Perceval, le Conte du Graal" by Chrétien de Troyes.
The name Percival gained popularity in England during the Middle Ages, as the Arthurian legends spread across Europe. It was often associated with ideals of chivalry, honor, and purity. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name was Percival de Somery, an English nobleman who lived in the 13th century.
Over the centuries, several notable individuals have borne the name Percival. One of the most famous was Sir Percival Willoughby (1596-1643), an English soldier and parliamentarian who fought in the English Civil War. Another prominent figure was Percival Lowell (1855-1916), an American businessman and astronomer who predicted the existence of the planet Pluto.
Other notable individuals named Percival include Percival Christopher Wren (1875-1941), a British writer and educator known for his children's books; Percival Everett (born 1956), an American writer and academic; and Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, a sports venue in Montreal, Canada, named after Percival Molson (1880-1917), a Canadian businessman and military officer.
While the name Percival fell out of popularity in the 20th century, it has seen a resurgence in recent years, perhaps due to its connection to the Arthurian legends and its unique, distinctive sound. It continues to evoke a sense of tradition, honor, and literary romanticism.
People
Percival + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Percival 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
Percival: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Percival?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 862 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Percival 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 397,627 US residents.
Is Percival a common name?
We classify Percival as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,353 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Percival most popular?
The single biggest year for Percival was 2024, when 93 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Percival is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Percival in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,223 people with the name Percival, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,750 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 Percival 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 Percival?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Percival leans strongly male. 1,208 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 14 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Percival?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Percival is Black at 37.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (34.4%) and White (16.8%). 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 Percival most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Percival in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.9% (463 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 Percival in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Percival a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Percival in the SSA data are male. 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 Percival still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Percival 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 Percival 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 share the name Percival?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.