Pearce
Masculine · “rock”
Pearce is given to both — 1,247 boys and 49 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Pearce is a medieval English form of Peter, and the r in it is a French addition — Piers, which English used long before Peter.
How old is the name Pearce?
Pearce first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Pearce alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 1,100 people named Pearce are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pearce most popular?
Pearce peaked in 1912, reaching #2269 nationally. Today it ranks #4539, 2,270 places below that high. See the whole 1912 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Pearce
Ours, offered as ours. Piers Plowman, written about 1370, is one of the major poems in Middle English, and its title tells you which form of the name England actually used — not Peter but Piers, taken from French. Peter only became the standard English form later, and Pearce, Pierce and Pearson are all fossils of the earlier one. The medieval English were saying Piers while writing Petrus in Latin.
Meaning
rock, stone
From Greek petros, a stone, translating Aramaic kepha; Old French gave Piers, which was the ordinary English form through the medieval period, and Pearce and Pierce are its later spellings.
Pronouncing Pearce
PEERSS
One syllable. Pearce and Pierce are said identically.
Nicknames for Pearce
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 201045 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2269reached in 1912
- Change vs 2024
- +15.8%22 in 2025, from 19
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.
Pearce in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pierce in English — spelling variant
- Pierre in French — related form
- Piers in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Florida.
Pearces among us
people named Pearce are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 77,640 born in 2025 was named Pearce
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Pearce
- #4539
- Pearce on the 2025 chart
- #896
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Pearce went to 22 boys in 2025, but Pearse is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 32, which makes it the 896th most-given boys’ name of the year — 3,643 places above the chart.
- Pearce22
- Pearse10
About 1 boy in 53,377 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 77,640 for Pearce itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Pearce 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
Pearce beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pearce in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning that the Gospel text explains in the moment it is given.
- Six letters and one syllable, quick to write.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Pierce is the more common spelling and will be written for him.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
- The English verb pierce sounds identical and will be played on.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Pearce
Masculine · #4539 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pearces are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Pearce are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Pearce?
- Pearce is the most-used spelling in US records — 22 of the 32 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Pearse.
- How popular is the name Pearce in 2025?
- Pearce ranks #4539 among US boy names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pearce?
- About 1 in every 77,640 US boys born in 2025 was named Pearce — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pearce with classmates?
- Pearce will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pearce
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nels#4539 · Gabe#4539 · Michel#4539 · Elroy#4539 · Orlin#4539 · Josemaria#4539 · Jory#4539 · Napoleon#4539
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pearce? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pearce and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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