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Pearlena vs Pearlene

American parents have registered 1,958 Pearlenes since 1880, against 335 Pearlenas. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Pearlena against Pearlene, 1880 to 2025 0 20 40 60 80 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Pearlena Pearlene

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 63 years in which either name was published, Pearlene for 62 years and Pearlena for 1 year. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Pearlena Pearlene
Total US births 3351,958
Most in one year 1664
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 100800
Median age today 7776
Peak year 19371938
Best rank 1,999th girls875th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19051906
Girls / boys 335 / 01,958 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Pearlena and Pearlene.