Pearley
Pearl-like, resembling the preciousness and luster of pearls.
Name Census estimates that about 140 living Americans carry the first name Pearley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 79.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Pearley today is around 82 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pearley births was 1926 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pearley. 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 Pearley is about 82 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Pearleys were born before 1954.
People living today
140
~ 1 in 2,448,245 Americans
Peak year
1926
31 babies that year
Average age
82
years old
1947 SSA rank
#4,136
Tracked since 1882
Census
Pearley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 213 people with the first name Pearley, which placed it at #36,939 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
#36,939
National first-name rank
People counted
213
213 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
57.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pearley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pearley is Black at 57.7%. The next largest groups are White (35.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.8%). 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 Pearley 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 Pearley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American57.7% · 123
- White35.2% · 75
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 6
- Two or more races2.8% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Pearley
Pearley is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 851 total registrations, 178 (20.9%) were male and 673 (79.1%) were female.
Pearley as a male name
- Ranked #4,136 in 1947
- 5 male births in 1947
- Peak: 1915 (11 births)
Pearley as a female name
- Ranked #6,778 in 1958
- 5 female births in 1958
- Peak: 1926 (23 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Pearley on both sides of the split. Of the 218 people counted with this name, 64 were male (29.4%) and 154 were female (70.6%).
Popularity
Pearley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pearley from the 1880s through to the 1950s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 229 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
Pearley 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 Pearley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pearleys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Pearley
The name Pearley is an English given name derived from the Middle English word "perle," which means "pearl." This name has its roots in the Old French word "perle" and the Latin word "perna," which means "leg." The name's association with pearls, a precious gem, suggests it was initially bestowed upon children to signify preciousness and rarity.
The earliest known record of the name Pearley dates back to the late 16th century in England. In 1589, a woman named Pearley Brownlow was born in Lincolnshire, England. This is one of the earliest recorded instances of the name's use.
Throughout history, the name Pearley has been borne by several notable individuals. One such individual was Pearley Quin, an American politician who served as the 17th Governor of Mississippi from 1870 to 1871. Another was Pearley Truesdale, an American musician and songwriter born in 1887, known for his contributions to the early development of country music.
In the literary realm, Pearley Mollington was a fictional character in the novel "The Adventurer" by English author Samuel Johnson, published in 1753. This early appearance of the name in literature highlights its usage during that era.
Another notable bearer of the name was Pearley Pratt, a Canadian politician born in 1888 who served as a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 1935, representing the riding of Regina.
Lastly, Pearley Rhodes was an American baseball player born in 1895 who played in the Major Leagues as an outfielder for the Philadelphia Athletics and the St. Louis Browns in the early 1920s.
While not a common name today, Pearley's association with pearls and its historical usage by individuals from various walks of life, including politics, literature, music, and sports, have contributed to its enduring legacy as a unique and distinctive English given name.
People
Pearley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pearley 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
Pearley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pearley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 140 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pearley 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 2,448,245 US residents.
Is Pearley a common name?
We classify Pearley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 851 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pearley most popular?
The single biggest year for Pearley was 1926, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pearley is about 82 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pearley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 213 people with the name Pearley, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,939 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 Pearley 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 Pearley?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Pearley on both sides of the split. Of the 218 people counted with this name, 64 were male (29.4%) and 154 were female (70.6%). 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 Pearley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pearley is Black at 57.7%. The next largest groups are White (35.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.8%). 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 Pearley most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Pearley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.7% (123 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 Pearley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pearley a female name?
Yes, 79.1% of people registered as Pearley 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 Pearley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pearley 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 Pearley 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 Pearley as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.