Perez
Masculine · “Hebrew perets”
Perez means a breach. He is the twin in Genesis 38 who was not born first: his brother put out a hand and the midwife tied a thread to it, and then Perez came out ahead of him. The name records the moment the order was broken.
How old is the name Perez?
Perez first appears in US birth records in 1954 — 71 years ago. The typical Perez alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 600 people named Perez are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Perez most popular?
Perez peaked in 1984, reaching #2706 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 7,008 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.
Where it comes from
From parats to Perez
The story of Perez
Genesis 38 is an unusually direct story. Tamar, twice widowed and denied the third brother she is owed, disguises herself and conceives by her father-in-law Judah, then produces his pledge when he condemns her; he says she is more righteous than he is. She bears twins, and at the birth one puts out a hand, the midwife ties a scarlet thread to it, and then the other emerges first, at which the midwife says, how have you broken out, and names him Perets, breach. The scarlet-threaded brother is Zerah. The narrator gives the breach-maker the line of descent: Perez is an ancestor of Boaz, of David and of Christ, and the book of Ruth ends with his genealogy. A story about a woman forcing an inheritance is placed, deliberately, at the head of the royal line.
Meaning
Hebrew perets, a breach
Perez is a Hebrew name meaning a breach or breaking out, from parats, to burst through. He is the son of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38 and an ancestor of David and of Christ in both New Testament genealogies. The identical Spanish surname Perez is unrelated, a patronymic meaning son of Pedro. The American peak of the given name is 1984.
How the name formed
- parats
- Perets
- Perez
Related forms: Perets · Perez
Pronouncing Perez
PEH-rez
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Spanish surname is PEH-reth in Spain and PEH-res in Latin America, and is written with an accent on the first syllable.
Nicknames for Perez
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
- 1954
- Most boys named
- 199123 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2706reached in 1984
- Change vs 2024
- −12.5%7 in 2025, from 8
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.
Perez in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Perets in Hebrew — same name
- Perez in Spanish — related form
Perezs among us
people named Perez are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Perez
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 Reiner test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Perez's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Reiner climbed just as high around 1961, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Reiner's path sketches the road Perez is walking now.
Perez 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
Perez beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Perez in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters and two syllables, easy to say.
- The Hebrew meaning is concrete and documented.
- It has a place in one of the best-known genealogies.
- It is an extremely common Spanish surname.
- The two sources are unrelated and constantly confused.
- It reads as a surname to most Americans.
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Perez
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Perezs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Perez are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Perez in 2025?
- Perez ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Perez?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Perez — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Perez with classmates?
- Perez will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Perez
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Perez? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Perez and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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