Persis
A feminine name of Persian origin, meaning "from Persis, a part of ancient Iran".
Name Census estimates that about 100 living Americans carry the first name Persis. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Persis today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Persis births was 1918 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Persis. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Persis with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
100
~ 1 in 3,427,543 Americans
Peak year
1918
19 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2019 SSA rank
#15,148
Tracked since 1884
Census
Persis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 384 people with the first name Persis, which placed it at #24,893 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
#24,893
National first-name rank
People counted
384
384 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Persis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Persis is White at 44.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.5%) and Black (20.1%). 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 Persis 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 Persis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.5% · 171
- Asian and Pacific Islander25.5% · 98
- Black or African American20.1% · 77
- Hispanic or Latino7.0% · 27
- Two or more races2.6% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Persis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Persis from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 132 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
Persis 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 Persis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Persis' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Persis
The name Persis is derived from the ancient Persian language and culture. It dates back to the time of the Persian Empire in the 6th century BCE. The name is believed to be a feminine form of the Old Persian name Parsa, which referred to the region of Persia (modern-day Iran).
Persis was originally a title given to noble women in ancient Persia. The earliest recorded reference to the name can be found in the Bible's New Testament. In the Book of Romans, chapter 16, verse 12, a woman named Persis is mentioned as a respected member of the early Christian community in Rome.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Persis was Persis, the daughter of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire. She lived in the 6th century BCE. Another notable Persis was Persis, the wife of Darius III, the last king of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, who lived in the 4th century BCE.
In the Middle Ages, the name Persis gained popularity among Christians in Europe, particularly in countries like England and France. It was often given as a nod to the biblical reference in the Book of Romans.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Persis in modern times was Persis Khambatta (1948-1998), an Indian actress and model who gained international recognition for her role in the 1980 film "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." She was also known for her advocacy work for animal rights.
Other notable individuals with the name Persis include:
1. Persis Brodribb (1709-1786), an English botanist and natural historian.
2. Persis Vose (1765-1824), an American poet and writer during the American Revolutionary War period.
3. Persis Lorraine Young (1823-1906), an American educator and abolitionist.
4. Persis Coleman Vose (1802-1885), an American artist and painter known for her still-life paintings.
5. Persis Puddester (1888-1953), a Canadian painter and artist recognized for her landscape and portrait works.
People
Persis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Persis 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
Persis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Persis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 100 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Persis 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 Persis a common name?
We classify Persis 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, 567 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Persis most popular?
The single biggest year for Persis was 1918, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Persis is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Persis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 384 people with the name Persis, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,893 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 Persis 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 Persis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Persis leans strongly female. 376 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 8 male bearers (2.1%). 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 Persis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Persis is White at 44.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.5%) and Black (20.1%). 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 Persis most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Persis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.5% (171 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 Persis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Persis a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Persis 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 Persis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Persis 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 Persis 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 Persis?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.