Pierre
Masculine · “Stone”
Pierre is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 19,069 boys against 74 girls since 1880.
Pierre is the French form of Peter, and in French it is also simply the word for stone — the same word you would use for a pebble or a paving block. It has been spoken in France for the whole of the second millennium, and it crossed to North America with French-speaking settlers long before it appeared in American birth records. Two syllables, the second one open and held: pee-AIR.
How old is the name Pierre?
Pierre was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Pierre alive today was born around 1984, making them about 41 years old. About 15,500 people named Pierre are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pierre most popular?
Pierre peaked in 1986, reaching #389 nationally. Today it ranks #1252, 863 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Pierre appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Kephas to Pierre
The story of Pierre
The chain begins with the Aramaic Kephas, "rock" — the byname the Gospels record Jesus giving to the disciple Simon. Greek writers rendered it Petros, Latin made it Petrus, and Old French wore it down to Pierre, which by the twelfth century was among the most-used men's names in France. Norman French carried a cousin form into England as Piers and Pierce, while Pierre itself reached North America with French colonists in Canada and Louisiana. It arrived again later with Haitian families, for whom Pierre is common as both a given name and a surname — one reason the name is well represented today in states with deep French-Caribbean and Gulf Coast ties.
Meaning
Stone, rock
Pierre is both a personal name and the ordinary French noun for stone, so the meaning has stayed visible in everyday speech rather than fading into etymology.
How the name formed
- Kephas
- Petros
- Petrus
- Piere
- Pierre
Related forms: Peter · Pietro · Pedro · Pyotr · Pieter · Pere
Pronouncing Pierre
pee-AIR
In French the R is made at the back of the throat and the whole thing runs closer to one syllable than two; American speakers generally say pee-AIR and that is well understood. Note that Pierre, South Dakota, is pronounced PEER by locals — the town and the name have parted ways.
Nicknames for Pierre
High
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
- 1987472 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #389reached in 1986
- Change vs 2022
- −10.7%159 in 2025, from 178
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.
Pierre in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Peter in English — same name
- Pietro in Italian — same name
- Pedro in Spanish — same name
- Pyotr in Russian — transliteration
- Pieter in Dutch — same name
- Pere in Catalan — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Georgia.
Pierres among us
people named Pierre are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 10,743 born in 2025 was named Pierre
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 Margaret test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Pierre's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Margaret climbed just as high around 1907, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Margaret's path sketches the road Pierre is walking now.
Pierre 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 Pierre is headed
Pierre should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Pierre beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pierre in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A spelling almost everyone can read, since the same name in different clothes — Peter, Pedro, Pietro — is familiar across most of the Western world.
- An unbroken record stretching from the Gospels through medieval France to the present day, with no gap where it fell out of use.
- Its meaning, "stone," is plain and current in French rather than buried in etymology.
- Travels well: a Pierre in Paris, Montreal, Port-au-Prince or Brussels needs no explaining.
- The final -e leads some Americans to read the name as feminine on paper, and it is regularly confused with the French woman's name Pierrette. In speech the issue disappears.
- Expect a lifetime of two pronunciations — pee-AIR from most people, PEER from anyone thinking of the South Dakota capital.
- Pierre is an extremely common surname in Haitian and French families, so forms, rosters and databases will sometimes flip it into the last-name field.
- It is rare enough in American classrooms that a child will likely be the only one, which cuts both ways: no shared name, and no anonymity either.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Pierre to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Pierre
Masculine · #1252 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pierres are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 15,500 people named Pierre are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pierre in 2025?
- Pierre ranks #1252 among US boy names in 2025, with 159 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pierre?
- About 1 in every 10,743 US boys born in 2025 was named Pierre — 159 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pierre with classmates?
- Pierre will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pierre
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Valor#1252 · Brecken#1252 · West#1252 · Aven#1256 · Yohan#1256 · Jerome#1256 · Malaki#1256 · Rian#1244
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pierre? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pierre and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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