Per vs Persephone
American parents have registered 4,960 Persephones since 1880, against 369 Pers. Persephone is still ahead, with 372 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Per Persephone
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 73 years in which either name was published, Persephone for 50 years and Per for 23 years. The lead changed hands 11 times.
- 1923–1969 Per ahead
- 1970 Persephone ahead
- 1971 Per ahead
- 1972–1982 Persephone ahead
- 1983–1984 Per ahead
- 1985 Persephone ahead
- 1986 Per ahead
- 1987 Persephone ahead
- 1988 Per ahead
- 1989–1991 Persephone ahead
- 1992 Per ahead
- 1993–2025 Persephone ahead
Side by side
| Per | Persephone | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 369 | 4,960 |
| Most in one year | 14 | 429 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 372 |
| Estimated living today | 310 | 4,900 |
| Median age today | 51 | 6 |
| Peak year | 1963 | 2022 |
| Best rank | 2,200th boys | 681st girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 734th |
| First recorded | 1923 | 1962 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 369 | 4,960 / 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 Pers alive today are over 51; half the Persephones are over 6. That is 45 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: Per and Persephone.