Pacey
A diminutive derived from the French name Pascal.
Name Census estimates that about 991 living Americans carry the first name Pacey. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 69.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Pacey today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pacey births was 2001 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pacey. 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.
People living today
991
~ 1 in 345,867 Americans
Peak year
2001
67 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,653
Tracked since 1998
Gender
Gender distribution for Pacey
Pacey is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,002 total registrations, 696 (69.5%) were male and 306 (30.5%) were female.
Pacey as a male name
- Ranked #4,653 in 2024
- 22 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (52 births)
Pacey as a female name
- Ranked #9,378 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (21 births)
Popularity
Pacey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pacey from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 455 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Pacey remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pacey 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 Pacey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Paceys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Pacey
The name Pacey is believed to have originated from the Old English word "pæc," which means "bundle" or "pack." This suggests that the name may have been initially used as a descriptive nickname for someone who carried a pack or bundle, perhaps a traveler or merchant.
In its earliest recorded forms, the name was spelled "Pacy" or "Pacie," and it was primarily found in England and other parts of the British Isles during the Middle Ages. Some historical records indicate that the name was particularly prevalent in the counties of Gloucestershire and Dorset.
One of the earliest documented references to the name Pacey can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landholdings and taxpayers in England completed in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The entry "Willelmus Paci" is listed among the tenants in Gloucestershire.
Throughout the centuries, several notable individuals have borne the name Pacey. One of the earliest recorded was Sir John Pacey (c. 1300-1370), a English knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War and was rewarded with lands in Gloucestershire for his service.
Another historically significant figure was Thomas Pacey (1511-1586), an English Protestant reformer and clergyman who served as the Dean of Chichester Cathedral during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
In the 17th century, Richard Pacey (1622-1679) was a prominent English merchant and member of the East India Company, playing a role in the early establishment of British trade routes and settlements in India.
During the American Revolutionary War, John Pacey (1735-1810) was a loyalist from Pennsylvania who joined the British forces and later settled in Canada after the conflict.
In more recent history, Charles Pacey (1886-1968) was a British architect and urban planner who significantly influenced the design and development of several towns and cities in the United Kingdom during the early 20th century.
While the name Pacey has been more commonly used as a surname in modern times, its origins as a given name can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when it likely emerged as a descriptive nickname reflecting the occupations and lifestyles of its early bearers.
People
Pacey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pacey 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
Pacey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pacey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 991 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pacey 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 345,867 US residents.
Is Pacey a common name?
We classify Pacey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,002 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pacey most popular?
The single biggest year for Pacey was 2001, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pacey is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Pacey a male name?
Yes, 69.5% of people registered as Pacey 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.
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.