Persis
Feminine · “a Persian woman”
Persis is a country in the feminine. In Greek it is simply the word for a Persian woman, the way Gallia meant a Gaulish one, and it turns up once in the New Testament — in a list of people Paul asks to be greeted, where he calls her the beloved Persis. That single mention is the reason the name exists in English at all.
How old is the name Persis?
Persis first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Persis alive today was born around 1921, making them about 104 years old. About 100 people named Persis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Persis most popular?
Persis peaked in 1885, reaching #921 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 14,021 places below that high. See the whole 1885 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Persis
Romans 16 is a list of greetings, and it is one of the most useful passages in the New Testament for anyone interested in ordinary people, because it names about two dozen of them, many of them women, most of them otherwise unrecorded. Persis is one. The Puritans, who took names from the whole of scripture rather than from the church calendar, picked up several from that chapter — Persis, Tryphena, Phebe — and carried them to New England. The name has stayed rare in every century since and has never been respelled, which is what happens to a name used only by people who know exactly where it came from.
Meaning
a Persian woman
Greek Persis is the feminine form of the adjective meaning Persian, and it is also the Greek name for the region of Persia itself — the province the Greeks called Persis and modern maps call Fars. Names of this kind were common for enslaved and freed people in the Roman world, who were often identified by where they had come from. The derivation is not disputed. What is not known is anything else about the woman Paul names.
Pronouncing Persis
PUR-siss
PUR-siss, two syllables, stress at the front, both s sounds crisp. Greek would put the weight at the back, per-SEES. The English reading is the one the Puritans established and it has not changed since.
Nicknames for Persis
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
- 1884
- Most girls named
- 191819 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #921reached in 1885
- Change vs 2019
- −16.7%5 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.
Persis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Περσίς in Greek — transliteration
Persiss among us
people named Persis are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Persis
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
Persis 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
Persis beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Persis in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a single documented appearance in a very well-known text, which gives it a precise history rather than a vague one.
- Two syllables, front-stressed, and said exactly as written.
- It has never been respelled, so there is only one version and everyone writes it.
- It is very close to Persia and to Percy, and both will be offered back in speech and on paper.
- The name is among the rarest still in the American record, so a child carrying it will explain it rather than recognize it in anyone else.
- The final syllable can sound like an abbreviation, which is a small thing and a persistent one.
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Persis
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Persiss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 100 people named Persis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Persis in 2025?
- Persis ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Persis?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Persis — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Persis with classmates?
- Persis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Persis
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Latrice#14942 · Mishelle#14942 · Kamie#14942 · Micheala#14942 · Cassi#14942 · Samone#14942 · Kellen#14942 · Shalon#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Persis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Persis and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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