Pearle vs Pearlena
American parents have registered 2,821 Pearles since 1880, against 335 Pearlenas. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Pearle Pearlena
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 85 years in which either name was published, Pearle for 69 years and Pearlena for 16 years. The lead changed hands 12 times.
- 1880–1933 Pearle ahead
- 1934–1937 Pearlena ahead
- 1938–1943 Pearle ahead
- 1951–1958 Pearlena ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1995–2018 Pearle ahead
7 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Pearle | Pearlena | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 2,821 | 335 |
| Most in one year | 103 | 16 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 120 | 100 |
| Median age today | 79 | 77 |
| Peak year | 1919 | 1937 |
| Best rank | 689th girls | 1,999th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1905 |
| Girls / boys | 2,821 / 0 | 335 / 0 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Pearles alive today are over 79; half the Pearlenas are over 77. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Pearle and Pearlena.