Pierce
Masculine · “rock”
Pierce is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 20,245 boys against 389 girls since 1880.
Pierce is the English surname grown from Piers, the name the Normans brought across the Channel as their own version of Peter. It has been on American birth records without a real break for well over a century, never crowding the top of the lists, never falling off them either. One syllable, ending in a clean hiss — it lands the way a closed door does.
How old is the name Pierce?
Pierce was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Pierce alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 18,000 people named Pierce are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pierce most popular?
Pierce peaked in 1886, reaching #383 nationally. Today it ranks #505, 122 places below that high. See the whole 1886 chart.
Where it comes from
From Petros to Pierce
The story of Pierce
The Greek Petros gave Latin Petrus, and Norman French reshaped it into Piers, which arrived in England after the Conquest and became one of the standard medieval men's names — familiar enough to name the ploughman of the great fourteenth-century English poem. From Piers came the surnames Pierce, Pearce and Pearse, and in Ireland the Gaelic Piarás produced its own family names of the same stock. Like many English surnames, Pierce then made the return trip to the front of the name, and that is how American records have carried it: a last name doing first-name work. The line back to Peter is unbroken, which is why Pierce shares a root with Pierre, Pedro and Pietro.
Meaning
rock, stone
Pierce descends from Peter, Greek Petros, 'rock' — the meaning travels intact through the Norman French Piers.
How the name formed
- Petros
- Petrus
- Piers
- Pierce
Related forms: Piers · Pierre · Pedro · Pietro · Piarás · Peter
Pronouncing Pierce
PEERSS
Said exactly like the English verb pierce, one syllable. Rhymes with fierce.
Nicknames for Pierce
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 2016647 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #383reached in 1886
- Change vs 2022
- +15.4%598 in 2025, from 518
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.
Pierce in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Piers in English — related form
- Pierre in French — related form
- Pedro in Spanish — related form
- Pietro in Italian — related form
- Piarás in Irish — related form
- Peter in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Pierces among us
people named Pierce are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,856 born in 2025 was named Pierce
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
Pierce 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
Where Pierce is headed
Pierce should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Pierce beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pierce in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds, because it matches an ordinary English word — most people can write it after hearing it once.
- A single crisp syllable, which sits easily in front of longer or multi-syllable surnames.
- Documented in an unbroken line back to Peter, with cognates in French, Spanish, Italian and Irish.
- Present on American records across every shift in naming fashion since the nineteenth century, without ever becoming a crowd.
- It is also the English verb, and children find that quickly — expect some wordplay about piercings during the school years. It tends to pass once the name is simply his.
- Pearce, Pearse and Piers are all real spellings of the same stock, so he will occasionally be written down as one of the others.
- It reads strongly as a surname, and forms that ask for last-name-first are a common place for the mix-up.
- There is no established short form. Some families like that a name arrives finished; others miss having a softer version for small years.
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Pierce
Masculine · #505 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pierces are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 18,000 people named Pierce are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pierce in 2025?
- Pierce ranks #505 among US boy names in 2025, with 598 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pierce?
- About 1 in every 2,856 US boys born in 2025 was named Pierce — 598 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pierce with classmates?
- Pierce will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pierce
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ronin#504 · Gunner#506 · Cillian#507 · Zaire#503 · Kyle#508 · Johnathan#508 · Odin#501 · Damon#501
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pierce? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pierce and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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