How rare is the name Pearlie?

4,585 people in the United States have the first name Pearlie, about 1 in 65,874. It ranks #4,182 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

PEARLIE

#4,182

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
4,585
About
1 in 65,874
This common or more
83.7%
Who bears it

Of the 4,585 people named Pearlie, 81.5% reported their origin as Black, 13.5% as White and 2.2% as two or more races. 97.1% are female. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Pearlie peaked in 1928, when 411 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802023
Peak year
1928
Births that year
411
In 2023
6 ▼99%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 18,828 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero.

Pearlie by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1890s, when it ranked #439. The largest share of babies named Pearlie, 34.9%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#567420
1890s#439975
1900s#4451,320
1910s#6212,577
1920s#6533,607
1930s#6373,417
1940s#7453,408
1950s#1,1532,040
1960s#2,165697
1970s#5,250206
1980s#10,71090
1990s#20,88240
2000s#47,6555
2010s#33,88120
2020s#36,8006
Before 19018.2%
Greatest Generation 1901–2734.9%
Silent Generation 1928–4533.5%
Baby boom 1946–6420.3%
Generation X 1965–802.3%
Millennials 1981–960.6%
Generation Z 1997–120.1%
2013 and later0.1%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Pearlie is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Pearlie has been most common in Mississippi (12×), Alabama (7.4×), and Arkansas (6.5×), and least common in Illinois (0.09×).

14,221 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Pearlie

#4,180 Ena · 4,587#4,181 Kadin · 4,586#4,183 Caryl · 4,581#4,183 Paityn · 4,581

Spelled almost the same

7 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Pearlie, most common first.

#1,242 Pearl · 30,561#15,306 Pearly · 754#17,356 Pearla · 637#30,018 Pearle · 292#36,405 Pearley · 218#46,015 Perle · 146#47,684 Perlie · 136

Compare