Perlie
A feminine given name of uncertain origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 74 living Americans carry the first name Perlie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Perlie today is around 84 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Perlie births was 1922 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Perlie. 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 Perlie is about 84 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Perlies were born before 1952.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Perlie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
74
~ 1 in 4,631,815 Americans
Peak year
1922
29 babies that year
Average age
84
years old
1936 SSA rank
#3,940
Tracked since 1889
Census
Perlie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 137 people with the first name Perlie, which placed it at #47,543 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
#47,543
National first-name rank
People counted
137
137 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Perlie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Perlie is Black at 44.5%. The next largest groups are White (33.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (19.7%). 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 Perlie 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 Perlie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.5% · 61
- White33.6% · 46
- Asian and Pacific Islander19.7% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1
- Two or more races0.7% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Perlie
Perlie leans heavily female at 88.6% of total registrations, but 73 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Perlie as a male name
- Ranked #3,940 in 1936
- 5 male births in 1936
- Peak: 1915 (8 births)
Perlie as a female name
- Ranked #5,075 in 1960
- 8 female births in 1960
- Peak: 1922 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Perlie on both sides of the split. Of the 136 people counted with this name, 36 were male (26.5%) and 100 were female (73.5%).
Popularity
Perlie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Perlie from the 1880s through to the 1960s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 210 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
Perlie 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 Perlie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Perlies live
Origin
Meaning and history of Perlie
The name Perlie is derived from the Old French word "perle," meaning "pearl." It has its roots in the Latin word "perla," which was borrowed from the Greek word "pērḗ." The name's association with pearls suggests a connection to beauty, rarity, and preciousness.
During the Middle Ages, the name Perlie was often used as a nickname or diminutive form of the name Pearl. It gained popularity as a given name in its own right in the 19th century, particularly in English-speaking countries like the United States and the United Kingdom.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Perlie can be found in the 1850 United States Federal Census, where it appears as the first name of a few individuals. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the name experienced a surge in popularity, likely due to its association with the beauty and elegance of pearls.
Notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Perlie include:
1. Perlie Prentice (1870-1946), an American educator and writer from Mississippi.
2. Perlie Petrie (1885-1971), an American baseball player who played in the Major Leagues from 1904 to 1907.
3. Perlie Henderson (1889-1965), an American politician who served as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1927 to 1931.
4. Perlie Acton (1903-1989), an American baseball player who played in the Negro Leagues during the 1920s and 1930s.
5. Perlie Peyton (1908-1998), an American actress and singer who appeared in several Broadway productions and films during the 1930s and 1940s.
While the name Perlie may not be as common today as it once was, its connection to the symbolism of pearls and its historical roots make it a unique and meaningful choice for a given name.
People
Perlie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Perlie 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
Perlie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Perlie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 74 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Perlie 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 4,631,815 US residents.
Is Perlie a common name?
We classify Perlie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 638 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Perlie most popular?
The single biggest year for Perlie was 1922, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Perlie is about 84 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Perlie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 137 people with the name Perlie, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,543 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 Perlie 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 Perlie?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Perlie on both sides of the split. Of the 136 people counted with this name, 36 were male (26.5%) and 100 were female (73.5%). 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 Perlie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Perlie is Black at 44.5%. The next largest groups are White (33.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (19.7%). 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 Perlie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Perlie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.5% (61 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 Perlie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Perlie a female name?
Yes, 88.6% of people registered as Perlie 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 Perlie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Perlie 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 Perlie 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 Perlie?
Want to know how many Americans are named Perlie? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.