Pleasant
Derived from the English word meaning delightful or pleasing.
Name Census estimates that about 92 living Americans carry the first name Pleasant. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Pleasant today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pleasant births was 1921 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pleasant. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Pleasant is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Pleasants were born before 1959.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Pleasant. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
92
~ 1 in 3,725,591 Americans
Peak year
1921
25 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1962 SSA rank
#4,483
Tracked since 1880
Census
Pleasant in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 302 people with the first name Pleasant, which placed it at #29,353 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
#29,353
National first-name rank
People counted
302
302 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pleasant
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pleasant is White at 45.7%. The next largest groups are Black (43.0%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Pleasant 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 Pleasant at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.7% · 138
- Black or African American43.0% · 130
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 14
- Two or more races4.6% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Pleasant
Pleasant leans heavily male at 89.6% of total registrations, but 73 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Pleasant as a male name
- Ranked #4,483 in 1962
- 5 male births in 1962
- Peak: 1924 (22 births)
Pleasant as a female name
- Ranked #16,065 in 2013
- 6 female births in 2013
- Peak: 1915 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Pleasant on both sides of the split. Of the 299 people counted with this name, 167 were male (55.9%) and 132 were female (44.1%).
Popularity
Pleasant: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pleasant from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 181 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pleasant 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 Pleasant during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pleasants live
Origin
Meaning and history of Pleasant
Pleasant is an English given name derived from the Old French word "plaisant", meaning pleasing or agreeable. Its roots can be traced back to the Latin word "placere", which means "to please". The name first appeared in England during the Middle Ages, around the 13th century.
The name Pleasant gained popularity as a Christian name, reflecting the desire for children to possess a positive and agreeable nature. It was also used to express gratitude and appreciation for a child's birth. In some cases, the name was given as a wish or aspiration for the child to have a pleasant and amiable disposition.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Pleasant is in the 16th century, when a Protestant martyr named Pleasant Prynnell was burned at the stake in Calais, France, in 1556. This event garnered attention and likely contributed to the name's use among English Protestants.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Pleasant. One example is Pleasant Rawlins (c. 1737-1825), an American Revolutionary War soldier and early settler in Kentucky. Another is Pleasant Armstrong Hunter (1784-1842), a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and a prominent lawyer in Virginia.
In literature, the name Pleasant appears in the works of English writer Thomas Hardy. One of his characters, Pleasant Dewy, is featured in the novel "Under the Greenwood Tree" (1872). This literary reference further popularized the name during the 19th century.
Other historical figures with the name Pleasant include Pleasant Harris Hoskin (1834-1902), an American politician and lawyer who served as a judge in Tennessee, and Pleasant Porter (1828-1897), a Union Army officer during the American Civil War.
While the name Pleasant was more common in earlier centuries, it has become relatively rare in modern times. However, its unique and positive connotation has ensured its continued use as a given name, reflecting the enduring desire for children to possess agreeable and pleasing qualities.
People
Pleasant + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pleasant 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
Pleasant: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pleasant?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 92 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pleasant 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 3,725,591 US residents.
Is Pleasant a common name?
We classify Pleasant as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 702 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pleasant most popular?
The single biggest year for Pleasant was 1921, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pleasant is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pleasant in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 302 people with the name Pleasant, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,353 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 Pleasant 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 Pleasant?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Pleasant on both sides of the split. Of the 299 people counted with this name, 167 were male (55.9%) and 132 were female (44.1%). 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 Pleasant?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pleasant is White at 45.7%. The next largest groups are Black (43.0%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Pleasant most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pleasant in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.7% (138 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 Pleasant in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pleasant a male name?
Yes, 89.6% of people registered as Pleasant 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 Pleasant still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pleasant 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 Pleasant 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 Americans are named Pleasant?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.