Percell
Masculine · “a little pig”
Percell is an American spelling of Purcell, a surname that means a little pig. It belonged to the finest composer England produced between the Tudors and the twentieth century, a man who died at thirty-six and was buried a few feet from the organ he had played for the abbey.
How old is the name Percell?
Percell first appears in US birth records in 1907 — 118 years ago. The typical Percell alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 500 people named Percell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Percell most popular?
Percell peaked in 1907, reaching #1345 nationally. See the whole 1907 chart.
Where it comes from
From an Old French word for a young pig to Percell
The story of Percell
Henry Purcell wrote for the theater, the church and the court in a career of about fifteen years, produced an opera that is still performed constantly, and died suddenly in his middle thirties. The story that his wife locked him out in the cold after a late night and that he caught his death of it is a piece of eighteenth-century gossip with nothing behind it. What is certain is the burial: he was laid in Westminster Abbey beside the organ he had played, and the inscription says he has gone to that blessed place where his harmony can be exceeded. No English composer for two centuries afterwards was thought to have come close to him.
Meaning
a little pig
The surname comes from Old French, from the word for a young pig, and it was almost certainly an occupational nickname for a swineherd rather than an insult. Medieval surnames are full of livestock and none of the families concerned seem to have minded. The American spelling with an e in the first syllable writes the sound rather than the French original, which is a common fate for French surnames in English-speaking countries.
How the name formed
- an Old French word for a young pig
- Purcell established as an English and Irish surname
- a composer makes it famous in the 1690s
- carried to America and respelled by ear
- Percell used as a first name from the 1900s
Related forms: Pourcel · Purcell
Pronouncing Percell
PUR-sul
Two syllables with the stress at the front, as the surname has always been said. Many American families front the second syllable instead, per-SELL, which is how the spelling reads to a stranger.
Nicknames for Percell
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
- 1907
- Most boys named
- 195327 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1345reached in 1907
- Change vs 2000
- −16.7%5 in 2004, 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.
Percell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pourcel in French — related form
- Purcell in English — spelling variant
Percells among us
people named Percell 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
Percell sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It has a real surname with a documented history behind it rather than an invented shape.
- Percy is available as a short form and is being rediscovered.
- It is genuinely rare in every decade of the record.
- The literal meaning is a little pig, and a child who looks it up will find that out.
- Purcell is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected constantly.
- The stress placement is unsettled between the English and the American readings.
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Percell
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Percells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Percell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Percell in 2025?
- Percell is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Percell with classmates?
- Percell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Paul#262 · Patrick#235 · Peter#187 · Philip#527 · Phillip#651 · Parker#102 · Preston#299 · Pedro#455
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Percell? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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