Pacey
Masculine · “of Pacy”
Pacey is given to both — 718 boys and 314 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Pacey is an English surname from a village in Normandy, and it reached American babies through one television character in 1998.
How old is the name Pacey?
Pacey first appears in US birth records in 1998 — 27 years ago. The typical Pacey alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 700 people named Pacey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pacey most popular?
Pacey peaked in 2001, reaching #2027 nationally. Today it ranks #4539, 2,512 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Paccius to Pacey
The story of Pacey
A great many English surnames are Norman villages — Percy, Mortimer, Neville, Darcy, Pacey — carried over by families who took their name from the estate they had left. Pacy-sur-Eure sits west of Paris. The name was a rare English surname until Dawson's Creek gave it to a lead character in 1998, after which it appears in American birth records for the first time in numbers.
Meaning
of Pacy
From Pacy-sur-Eure in Normandy, itself from a Gallo-Roman personal name Paccius with a possessive ending. Norman families carried the place name to England, where it became Pacey, Pacy and Paisey.
How the name formed
- Paccius
- Pacy
- Pacey
Related forms: Pacy · Pacy
Pronouncing Pacey
PAY-see
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation in English.
Nicknames for Pacey
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1998
- Most boys named
- 200152 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2027reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%22 in 2025, from 22
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Pacey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pacy in French — related form
- Pacy in English — spelling variant
Paceys among us
people named Pacey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 77,640 born in 2025 was named Pacey
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Lonzell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Pacey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lonzell climbed just as high around 1958, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lonzell's path sketches the road Pacey is walking now.
Pacey sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Pacey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pacey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled origin traceable to a specific village in Normandy.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Five letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- Its American use is almost entirely traceable to one 1998 television character.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
- It is used for both sexes in some American records.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Pacey
Masculine · #4539 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Paceys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Pacey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pacey in 2025?
- Pacey ranks #4539 among US boy names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pacey?
- About 1 in every 77,640 US boys born in 2025 was named Pacey — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pacey with classmates?
- Pacey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pacey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nels#4539 · Gabe#4539 · Michel#4539 · Elroy#4539 · Orlin#4539 · Pearce#4539 · Josemaria#4539 · Napoleon#4539
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pacey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pacey and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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