Pearlie
Feminine · “pearl”
Pearlie is given to both — 18,129 girls and 699 boys since 1880. See Pearlie as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Pearlie is a gem name with an affectionate ending, from the decades when that ending was attached to almost anything and marked no sex at all. The material it names supported an entire American industry that has vanished so completely most people have never heard of it.
How old is the name Pearlie?
Pearlie was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Pearlie alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 5,700 people named Pearlie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pearlie most popular?
Pearlie peaked in 1887, reaching #262 nationally. See the whole 1887 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From perla to Pearlie
The story of Pearlie
For about sixty years the button industry of the world ran on freshwater mussels from the upper Mississippi. A German immigrant working in Muscatine, Iowa, discovered that the shells of the local mussels took a pearly polish as good as the sea shells being imported, and within a decade the river towns were full of factories punching blanks out of shells with tube saws. At its height the trade employed tens of thousands of people, boats dragged the riverbed with hooked bars, and mountains of drilled shell were dumped on the banks. It collapsed twice: first because the mussel beds were fished out faster than they could recover, and then finally because plastic buttons cost a fraction as much. The holes in the discarded shells are still turned up along the river, and several of the mussel species never came back.
Meaning
pearl
The English word for the gem, with the familiar ending the nineteenth century added freely to names. Whether a given family meant it as a pet form of Pearl or registered it as the full name is not recorded, and both happened.
How the name formed
- perla
- Pearl
- Pearlie
Pronouncing Pearlie
PUR-lee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The ea says the vowel of her, which is one of the few things that pair does reliably before an r.
Nicknames for Pearlie
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1928388 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #262reached in 1887
- Change vs 2013
- 0.0%6 in 2023, from 6
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.
Pearlies among us
people named Pearlie are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Pearlie has already lived its whole cycle: it rose, had its era, and has stepped off the charts. The fashion question is behind it — what lies ahead is the waiting room where revivals begin, once a name's first generation has grown distant enough for it to sound fresh again.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is a real object and needs no explaining to anybody.
- Pearl comes off it as a short form and is a complete name.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- Pearly and Perlie are both recorded and will be written for it.
- It reads as belonging firmly to one generation and one region.
- The affectionate ending suits some working lives better than others.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Pearlie
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Pearlies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,700 people named Pearlie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pearlie in 2025?
- Pearlie is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Pearlie with classmates?
- Pearlie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Patricia#1334 · Pamela#2239 · Phyllis#11932 · Peggy#8362 · Paula#853 · Pauline#2957 · Pearl#776 · Paige#346
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pearlie? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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