Pernell
Masculine · “Latin Petronilla”
Pernell is given to both — 3,037 boys and 275 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Pernell began as a woman's name and passed through a period as an insult. Petronilla was so common in medieval England that parnel became a common noun for a priest's mistress, and the name did not recover for centuries.
How old is the name Pernell?
Pernell first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Pernell alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 2,400 people named Pernell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pernell most popular?
Pernell peaked in 1964, reaching #592 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 10,103 places below that high. See the whole 1964 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Petronilla to Pernell
The story of Pernell
Petronilla was one of the standard English women's names of the thirteenth century, worn down in speech to Parnell. It was so ordinary that it became generic, and by the fifteenth century a parnel meant a priest's concubine, which killed the name as a name for several hundred years; it survived as a surname, most famously in the Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell, whose family were English in origin. Its reappearance in twentieth-century America as a man's name, spelled Pernell, has no connection to the medieval history: it belongs to the pattern that also produced Darnell and Ronnell. The 1964 peak follows an actor of that name who had been in a leading television western since 1959.
Meaning
Latin Petronilla, from Petronius
From Petronilla, a diminutive of the Roman family name Petronius, borne by an early Roman saint. English shortened it to Parnell, which became a common noun before fading; Pernell is a later American male form. The peak is 1964.
How the name formed
- Petronilla
- Parnell
- Pernell
Related forms: Parnell · Petronilla
Pronouncing Pernell
pur-NEL
Two syllables, stress on the second. Parnell is usually PAR-nul, with the stress at the front.
Nicknames for Pernell
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 1963149 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #592reached in 1964
- Change vs 2022
- 0.0%6 in 2025, 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.
Pernell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Parnell in English — related form
- Petronilla in Italian — same name
Pernells among us
people named Pernell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Pernell
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 Elwyn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Pernell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Elwyn climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Elwyn's path sketches the road Pernell is walking now.
Pernell 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
Pernell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pernell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables with a firm ending.
- The Roman name behind it is documented.
- It is rare without sounding invented.
- Its history runs through a female name and a period as a slur.
- Parnell and Pernell are stressed differently.
- The 1964 peak dates its American use.
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What they receive
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Pernell
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pernells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Pernell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pernell in 2025?
- Pernell ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pernell?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Pernell — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pernell with classmates?
- Pernell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pernell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Buford#10695 · Toney#10695 · Allison#10695 · Danzel#10695 · Kaelin#10695 · Ethyn#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pernell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pernell and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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