Percival
Masculine · “pierce the valley”
Percival is the knight who finds the Grail and, in the earliest version, ruins everything by failing to ask a single question at the right moment.
How old is the name Percival?
Percival was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Percival alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 1,000 people named Percival are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Percival most popular?
Percival peaked in 1886, reaching #694 nationally. Today it ranks #1529, 835 places below that high. See the whole 1886 chart.
Percival appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Peredur to Percival
The story of Percival
Chrétien de Troyes left Perceval unfinished around 1190, and its scene of the Grail carried through the whole later cycle — the young knight sees the procession, is too polite to ask what it means, and the failure costs a kingdom. Wagner's Parsifal retells it. Percival became an English given name in the nineteenth century and is in low but current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
pierce the valley
Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval reads in French as perce val, 'pierce the valley', which may be the poet's own construction. The likelier source is the Welsh Peredur, whose meaning is unrecovered — possibly 'hard spear'. The French form looks like an etymology and may in fact be a pun.
How the name formed
- Peredur
- Perceval
- Percival
Related forms: Perceval · Parzival · Peredur
Pronouncing Percival
PUR-sih-vul
Three syllables, stress on the first. French Perceval puts the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Percival
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 boys named
- 2025113 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #694reached in 1886
- Change vs 2022
- +121.6%113 in 2025, from 51
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.
Percival in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Perceval in French — spelling variant
- Parzival in German — related form
- Peredur in Welsh — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Wisconsin, California.
Percivals among us
people named Percival are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 15,116 born in 2025 was named Percival
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Percival is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Percival is headed
Percival looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 52% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Percival beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Percival in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One of the central figures of Arthurian literature carries it.
- Percy and Val are two short forms at very different registers.
- The question-not-asked is one of the great images in European storytelling.
- The pierce-the-valley reading may be a medieval pun rather than an etymology.
- Three syllables and a distinctly antique register.
- Percy carries a strong and rather soft English association.
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What they receive
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Percival
Masculine · #1529 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Percivals are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Percival are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Percival in 2025?
- Percival ranks #1529 among US boy names in 2025, with 113 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Percival?
- About 1 in every 15,116 US boys born in 2025 was named Percival — 113 in all.
- Will my child share the name Percival with classmates?
- Percival will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Percival
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Indigo#1529 · Daylen#1529 · Khari#1529 · Terrell#1529 · Nestor#1529 · Manolo#1529 · Skylar#1529 · Daryl#1529
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Percival? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Percival and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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