Pierce
A masculine name of English origin meaning "to pierce" or "rock climber".
Name Census estimates that about 17,839 living Americans carry the first name Pierce. It is a predominantly male name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Pierce today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pierce births was 2015 (668 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pierce. 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 Pierce with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Pierce is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 369 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
18K
~ 1 in 19,214 Americans
Peak year
2015
668 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#540
Tracked since 1880
Census
Pierce in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,543 people with the first name Pierce, which placed it at #1,931 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
#1,931
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
14,543 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pierce
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pierce is White at 76.0%. The next largest groups are Black (7.2%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). 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 Pierce 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 Pierce at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.0% · 11,053
- Black or African American7.2% · 1,042
- Two or more races7.1% · 1,035
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 1,002
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 315
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 96
Gender
Gender distribution for Pierce
Pierce leans heavily male at 98.2% of total registrations, but 369 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Pierce as a male name
- Ranked #540 in 2024
- 553 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (648 births)
Pierce as a female name
- Ranked #4,734 in 2024
- 29 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (32 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pierce leans strongly male. 14,213 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 322 female bearers (2.2%).
Popularity
Pierce: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pierce from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 6,083 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Pierce remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pierce 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 Pierce during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pierces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Pierce, while District of Columbia, North Dakota, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 336 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pierce
Pierce is an English masculine given name derived from the Old French name Pierre, which itself comes from the Late Latin name Petrus, meaning "rock" or "stone." The name Petrus is derived from the Ancient Greek name Πέτρος (Petros), an important Biblical name.
The name Pierce has its origins in ancient times and was popular among early Christians, as it was the name given to the Apostle Peter by Jesus Christ, one of the most significant figures in Christianity. Peter was known as the "rock" upon which the Christian church would be built.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Pierce is in the 12th century in England, where it was spelled "Piers" or "Pieres." It gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in areas with strong French influence, such as England and parts of Europe.
Some notable historical figures with the name Pierce include Pierce Butler (1744-1822), an American politician and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, who signed the U.S. Constitution. Another was Pierce Penniless (1592-1670), an English writer and poet.
In the 19th century, the name gained further prominence with individuals like Pierce Egan (1772-1849), an English author and boxing writer, and Pierce Mease (1765-1836), an American physician and naturalist.
Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) was the 14th President of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He is remembered for his efforts to preserve the Union and avoid civil war, though his presidency was ultimately overshadowed by the growing tensions between the North and South.
Pierce Butler (1866-1939) was an American lawyer and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1939.
Throughout history, the name Pierce has been a reminder of the Apostle Peter's significance in Christianity and has been borne by many notable individuals, particularly in the United States and England.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Pierce
People
Pierce + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pierce 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
Pierce: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pierce?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17,839 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pierce 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 19,214 US residents.
Is Pierce a common name?
We classify Pierce as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 20,015 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pierce most popular?
The single biggest year for Pierce was 2015, when 668 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pierce is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pierce in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,543 people with the name Pierce, or 4.82 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,931 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 Pierce 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 Pierce?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pierce leans strongly male. 14,213 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 322 female bearers (2.2%). 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 Pierce?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pierce is White at 76.0%. The next largest groups are Black (7.2%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). 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 Pierce most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pierce in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.0% (11,053 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 Pierce in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pierce a male name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Pierce 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.
Is Pierce still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pierce 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 Pierce 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 Pierce as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.