Pervis
Masculine
Pervis is a surname given as a first name, in the American pattern that ran for two centuries — and it is one spelling of a name that the record holds as two, because the vowel in the middle can be written either way.
How old is the name Pervis?
Pervis first appears in US birth records in 1892 — 133 years ago. The typical Pervis alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 500 people named Pervis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pervis most popular?
Pervis peaked in 1892, reaching #1066 nationally. See the whole 1892 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Pervis
A surname reaching a child as a first name in that period almost always came through the mother. The custom was to use her maiden name — sometimes as a middle name, often as a first — so that a family line which would otherwise vanish from the record stayed visible for another generation. It is one of the few naming practices that worked against the general disappearance of women from the documents, and it is why so many American men of the period carry names that sound like law firms. The vowel in this one is the ordinary English problem: er and ur spell the same unstressed sound, the clerk chose, and two spellings of one family name have been counted separately ever since.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The surname behind it has been connected to a medieval household office concerned with supplying food, and that derivation is probable rather than proven. The first-name use carries no meaning of its own: it is pointing at a family.
Pronouncing Pervis
PUR-vis
Two syllables, stress at the front, ending in a soft s.
Nicknames for Pervis
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
- 1892
- Most boys named
- 196618 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1066reached in 1892
- Change vs 1993
- −28.6%5 in 2002, from 7
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.
Perviss among us
people named Pervis are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Pervis 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 has the settled sound of a genuine family name.
- It is short and read correctly on sight.
- It is carried by almost nobody as a first name now.
- The obvious shortening has become an ugly word in English and is unusable.
- Purvis is the commoner spelling and his will be written that way.
- There is no meaning to hand him, only the family it came from.
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Pervis
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Perviss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Pervis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pervis in 2025?
- Pervis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Pervis with classmates?
- Pervis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Paul#262 · Patrick#235 · Peter#187 · Philip#527 · Phillip#651 · Parker#102 · Preston#299 · Pedro#455
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pervis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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