Percell vs Pernell
American parents have registered 3,312 Pernells since 1880, against 1,064 Percells. Pernell is still ahead, with 6 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Percell Pernell
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 112 years in which either name was published, Pernell for 94 years and Percell for 18 years. The lead changed hands 19 times.
- 1907–1913 Percell ahead
- 1915–1950 Pernell ahead, apart from 4 short spells
- 1951–1953 Percell ahead
- 1959–2025 Pernell ahead
12 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Percell | Pernell | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,064 | 3,312 |
| Most in one year | 27 | 183 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 6 |
| Estimated living today | 520 | 2,500 |
| Median age today | 63 | 51 |
| Peak year | 1953 | 1964 |
| Best rank | 1,455th boys | 592nd boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 10,695th |
| First recorded | 1907 | 1915 |
| Girls / boys | 0 / 1,064 | 275 / 3,037 |
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 Percells alive today are over 63; half the Pernells are over 51. That is 12 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Percell Virginia (30.4×), North Carolina (10.0×)
- Pernell Louisiana (8.6×), the District of Columbia (7.1×), Virginia (6.9×)
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: Percell and Pernell.