Pearle vs Pearlene
American parents have registered 2,821 Pearles since 1880, against 1,958 Pearlenes. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Pearle Pearlene
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 93 years in which either name was published, Pearle for 50 years and Pearlene for 43 years. The lead changed hands 2 times.
Side by side
| Pearle | Pearlene | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 2,821 | 1,958 |
| Most in one year | 103 | 64 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 120 | 800 |
| Median age today | 79 | 76 |
| Peak year | 1919 | 1938 |
| Best rank | 689th girls | 875th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1880 | 1906 |
| Girls / boys | 2,821 / 0 | 1,958 / 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 Pearlenes are over 76. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Pearle Pennsylvania (8.6×), South Carolina (7.9×), North Carolina (4.7×)
- Pearlene Mississippi (13.1×), Arkansas (12.1×), North Carolina (6.3×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Pearle and Pearlene.