Perlie
Feminine · “pearl”
Perlie is given to both — 565 girls and 73 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Perlie is Pearl with a pet ending, a fond old name given mostly to girls and to a real minority of boys. For girls it is a jewel; for boys it most often echoes the New England surname Perley.
How old is the name Perlie?
Perlie first appears in US birth records in 1889 — 136 years ago. The typical Perlie alive today was born around 1926, making them about 99 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Perlie are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Perlie most popular?
Perlie peaked in 1896, reaching #1122 nationally. See the whole 1896 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Pearl / Perley to Perlie
The story of Perlie
Pearl became a girl's name in the nineteenth century with the fashion for jewel names, and Perlie and Pearlie were its pet forms. The oldest English use of the word as a person is a poem: in the fourteenth-century Pearl, a grieving father falls asleep on his daughter's grave and dreams he sees her, grown and crowned, on the far side of a river he cannot cross. For boys, Perlie grew from Perley, a surname carried by old New England families, so one spelling reached both sexes by different doors.
Meaningscholars disagree
pearl, or the surname Perley
For girls, Perlie is a pet form of Pearl, the gem. For boys it more often echoes Perley, an English surname. The record does not say which families meant which.
How the name formed
- Pearl / Perley
- Perlie
Related forms: Pearlie · Perla
Pronouncing Perlie
PUR-lee
Two syllables, stressed on the first.
Nicknames for Perlie
Limited
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
- 1889
- Most girls named
- 192222 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1122reached in 1896
- Change vs 1956
- +60.0%8 in 1960, from 5
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.
Perlie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pearlie in English — spelling variant
- Perla in Italian — related form
Perlies among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Perlie are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Perlie 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 is warm and old-fashioned, with a clear meaning.
- It works for a girl or a boy, each by its own road.
- It is almost never given now, so it is distinctive.
- People will write Pearlie or Perley.
- Most children given it are girls; a boy named Perlie may be taken for a girl on paper.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Perlie to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Perlie? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Perlie
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Perlies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Perlie are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Perlie in 2025?
- Perlie is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Perlie with classmates?
- Perlie 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 Perlie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Perlie and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle