Pharoah
Masculine · “Egyptian per-aa”
Pharaoh is a building. Egyptian per-aa means the great house, the palace, and it was used to refer to the king the way people now say the White House or the Kremlin. The title never meant king; it meant the address the king lived at.
How old is the name Pharoah?
Pharoah first appears in US birth records in 1936 — 89 years ago. The typical Pharoah alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 700 people named Pharoah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pharoah most popular?
Pharoah peaked in 1970, reaching #3071 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 5,839 places below that high. See the whole 1970 chart.
Where it comes from
From per-aa to Pharoah
The story of Pharoah
Per-aa was in use for the palace from the Old Kingdom and only became a way of referring to the king personally in the New Kingdom, from about the fifteenth century BC. The substitution of a residence for the person in it is one of the oldest devices in political language and it is still everywhere: the White House, the Kremlin, Downing Street, the Vatican, the Porte for the Ottoman government, the Sublime Porte being the gate of the palace. The Egyptian kings themselves had a formal titulary of five names and pharaoh was not among them; it was a respectful indirection, like saying Your Majesty rather than using a name. The Hebrew Bible uses it as though it were a title, which is how English inherited it, and English has treated it as the Egyptian word for king ever since.
Meaning
Egyptian per-aa, great house
Pharoah is a transposed spelling of Pharaoh, from Egyptian per-aa, the great house, referring to the royal palace and later to the king himself. Hebrew borrowed it as paroh and Greek as pharao, and English has it through both. The transposed a and o are a very common spelling error, common enough to hold its own rank. The peak is 1970.
How the name formed
- per-aa
- paroh
- Pharaoh
- Pharoah
Related forms: Pharaoh · Paroh
Pronouncing Pharoah
FAIR-oh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Pharoah and Pharaoh are said identically; the transposed vowels change nothing audible.
Nicknames for Pharoah
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
- 1936
- Most boys named
- 201737 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3071reached in 1970
- Change vs 2024
- −52.9%8 in 2025, from 17
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.
Pharoah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pharaoh in English — spelling variant
- Paroh in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Georgia.
Pharoahs among us
people named Pharoah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Pharoah
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 Kenzie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Pharoah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kenzie climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kenzie's path sketches the road Pharoah is walking now.
Pharoah 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
Pharoah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pharoah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The word has one of the most interesting histories of any title.
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- It is instantly recognized.
- The standard spelling is Pharaoh and this one is a transposition.
- It is a title rather than a personal name.
- Systems and readers will correct it.
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What they receive
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Pharoah
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pharoahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Pharoah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pharoah in 2025?
- Pharoah ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pharoah?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Pharoah — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pharoah with classmates?
- Pharoah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pharoah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pharoah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pharoah and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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