Perel
Feminine · “pearl”
Perel is a pearl. It is the Yiddish word, and it belongs to the set of vernacular names Ashkenazi families gave daughters — plain lovely things, given without any biblical warrant at all.
How old is the name Perel?
Perel first appears in US birth records in 1984 — 41 years ago. The typical Perel is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Perel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Perel most popular?
Perel peaked in 2024, reaching #3081 nationally. Today it ranks #3100, 19 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From perl to Perel
The story of Perel
Ashkenazi women's names divide into Hebrew ones and Yiddish ones, and the Yiddish set is made of ordinary beautiful words — Perel a pearl, Blima a flower, Golda gold, Sheina beautiful, Freida joy. They have no scriptural basis and were given freely across Eastern Europe for centuries, often paired with a Hebrew name of matching sense. Perel came to America with Ashkenazi emigration and remains in ordinary use in observant communities rather than being revived.
Meaning
pearl
Yiddish perl means a pearl, from the same word as German Perle and English pearl, all descended from Latin perla. It is paired in Jewish naming with the Hebrew Margalit, which also means a pearl — the vernacular name and the Hebrew one translating each other, which is the standard Ashkenazi arrangement. The reading is documented.
How the name formed
- perl
- Perel
Related forms: Perl · Perle · Margalit
Pronouncing Perel
PEH-rel
Two syllables, stress on the first. Yiddish Perl has one syllable with the l carrying it; the extra vowel in Perel is a spelling of how it is actually said in American speech.
Nicknames for Perel
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
- 1984
- Most girls named
- 202452 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3081reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%52 in 2025, from 52
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.
Perel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Perl in Yiddish — spelling variant
- Perle in German — related form
- Margalit in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey.
Perels among us
people named Perel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 30,909 born in 2025 was named Perel
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 Ammy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Perel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ammy climbed just as high around 2005, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ammy's path sketches the road Perel is walking now.
Perel 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
Where Perel is headed
Perel looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium 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.
Perel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Perel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A plain, lovely meaning that every Yiddish and German speaker recognizes instantly.
- Five letters, entirely phonetic, and said correctly by English speakers at first sight.
- Rooted in a living tradition rather than revived from a list.
- Perel, Perl and Perle all circulate within the same communities.
- It is strongly identified with observant Ashkenazi families, which is either the point or something to weigh.
- It sits close to Pearl, which is the same word and looks unrelated.
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What they receive
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Perel
Feminine · #3100 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Perels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Perel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Perel in 2025?
- Perel ranks #3100 among US girl names in 2025, with 52 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Perel?
- About 1 in every 30,909 US girls born in 2025 was named Perel — 52 in all.
- Will my child share the name Perel with classmates?
- Perel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Perel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yatziri#3100 · Clarice#3100 · Alanie#3100 · Ellora#3100 · Grayson#3100 · Lainie#3100 · Brady#3100 · Addalynn#3100
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Perel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Perel and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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