Percilla vs Perla
American parents have registered 20,836 Perlas since 1880, against 567 Percillas. Perla is still ahead, with 132 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Percilla Perla
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 109 years in which either name was published, Perla for 89 years and Percilla for 20 years. The lead changed hands 17 times.
- 1907–1917 Percilla ahead
- 1920–1927 Perla ahead
- 1939–1951 Percilla ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1952–2025 Perla ahead, apart from one short spell
12 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Percilla | Perla | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 567 | 20,836 |
| Most in one year | 22 | 1,109 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 132 |
| Estimated living today | 410 | 20,000 |
| Median age today | 60 | 22 |
| Peak year | 1949 | 2003 |
| Best rank | 2,069th girls | 282nd girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 1,587th |
| First recorded | 1907 | 1918 |
| Girls / boys | 567 / 0 | 20,806 / 30 |
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.
Which name is older
Half of the Percillas alive today are over 60; half the Perlas are over 22. That is 38 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Percilla and Perla.