Pixie
Feminine · “a small mischievous fairy”
The pixie is a West Country creature. Devon and Cornwall have had piskies and pixies in their folklore for as long as anyone has written the folklore down, and the word did not spread to the rest of England until quite late. Where it came from nobody knows — it has no relatives in Old English, and every explanation offered for it is a guess.
How old is the name Pixie?
Pixie first appears in US birth records in 1946 — 79 years ago. The typical Pixie alive today was born around 1973, making them about 52 years old. About 600 people named Pixie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pixie most popular?
Pixie peaked in 1955, reaching #1691 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 11,517 places below that high. See the whole 1955 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From pisky to Pixie
The story of Pixie
Devon and Cornwall kept their own supernatural population separate from the fairies of the rest of England, and pixies were a local matter well into the nineteenth century — being pixie-led, wandering in circles on a moor, was a thing people said seriously. Folklore collectors carried the word outward and it became general English. As a personal name it belongs to the middle of the twentieth century, given as a nickname that stuck and then, in American records from the 1940s, as a name outright.
Meaning
a small mischievous fairy
The word means what it means: a small supernatural being of southwestern English folklore, mischievous rather than malicious, given to leading travelers astray. What is not known is where the word itself came from — it appears in the seventeenth century with no visible ancestors, and a Swedish dialect word for a small fairy is the usual proposal without being any kind of proof.
How the name formed
- pisky
- pixy
- Pixie
Pronouncing Pixie
PIK-see
Two syllables, stress on the first. Nothing about the spelling gives an English reader any difficulty, and the word is familiar to everyone.
Nicknames for Pixie
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
- 1946
- Most girls named
- 195537 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1691reached in 1955
- Change vs 2024
- −14.3%6 in 2025, 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.
Pixie in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Pixies among us
people named Pixie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Pixie
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 Marlynn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Pixie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marlynn climbed just as high around 1936, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marlynn's path sketches the road Pixie is walking now.
Pixie 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
Pixie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pixie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone can say it and spell it after hearing it once.
- It has a genuine regional folklore behind it rather than a modern invention.
- Five letters, two syllables, and it sits well before almost any surname.
- It is unmistakable — a child will not meet another.
- It is a word for a small mythical creature, and adults will read it as a nickname rather than a name.
- The word carries a suggestion of smallness that follows a person into adult life.
- Its origin genuinely cannot be given, which is unusual for a word this familiar.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Pixie to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Pixie
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Pixies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Pixie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pixie in 2025?
- Pixie ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pixie?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Pixie — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pixie with classmates?
- Pixie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pixie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pixie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pixie and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
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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