Pele
Hawaiian given name referring to the fire goddess or volcano deity.
Name Census estimates that about 100 living Americans carry the first name Pele. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 50.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Pele today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pele births was 1981 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pele. 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
100
~ 1 in 3,427,543 Americans
Peak year
1981
9 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2021 SSA rank
#13,577
Tracked since 1973
Gender
Gender distribution for Pele
Pele is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 103 total registrations, 51 (49.5%) were male and 52 (50.5%) were female.
Pele as a male name
- Ranked #13,577 in 2021
- 5 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1981 (9 births)
Pele as a female name
- Ranked #17,388 in 2019
- 5 female births in 2019
- Peak: 2011 (8 births)
Popularity
Pele: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pele from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 38 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pele 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 Pele during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Peles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Pele
The name Pele originates from Hawaiian culture and language, where it is pronounced "peh-leh". The name is derived from the Hawaiian word "pele", meaning "lava" or "molten earth". In Hawaiian mythology, Pele is the goddess of fire, volcanoes, and violence, known for her power and fiery temper.
Pele is a prominent figure in the Hawaiian creation stories and oral traditions. According to legend, she was born from the union of the gods Haumea and Kane and is said to have traveled from her birthplace in Tahiti to the Hawaiian Islands, creating the volcanic landscapes as she arrived. She is often depicted as a beautiful woman with long hair and a fiery temper, capable of both creation and destruction.
The earliest recorded use of the name Pele can be traced back to the ancient Hawaiian chants and oral histories, which were passed down through generations of storytellers and chanters. These stories and chants were eventually recorded in written form by early Western explorers and missionaries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Pele, most famously the Brazilian soccer player Pele (full name Edson Arantes do Nascimento, 1940-2022), widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He was known for his exceptional skill, athleticism, and charisma on the field, and his name became synonymous with the sport of soccer itself.
Another notable Pele was the Hawaiian singer and musician Pele Jingoia (1917-2005), who was known for her contributions to the preservation and promotion of traditional Hawaiian music and dance. She performed extensively throughout her career and helped to keep alive the cultural traditions of her native Hawaii.
In Greek mythology, Pele was also the name of one of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of the Titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione. The Pleiades were a group of stars in the constellation Taurus, and their names were often used as given names in ancient Greece.
Other notable individuals named Pele include Pele Avei, a former professional soccer player from Vanuatu, and Pele Manu, a Samoan rugby player who represented Samoa in international competitions.
People
Pele + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pele 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
Pele: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pele?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 100 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pele 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 3,427,543 US residents.
Is Pele a common name?
We classify Pele as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 103 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pele most popular?
The single biggest year for Pele was 1981, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pele is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Pele a female name?
Yes, 50.5% of people registered as Pele 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.
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.