Percilla vs Persephone
American parents have registered 4,960 Persephones since 1880, against 567 Percillas. Persephone is still ahead, with 372 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Percilla Persephone
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 100 years in which either name was published, Persephone for 54 years and Percilla for 46 years. The lead changed hands 13 times.
- 1907–1969 Percilla ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1970–2025 Persephone ahead, apart from 2 short spells
9 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Percilla | Persephone | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 567 | 4,960 |
| Most in one year | 22 | 429 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 372 |
| Estimated living today | 410 | 4,900 |
| Median age today | 60 | 6 |
| Peak year | 1949 | 2022 |
| Best rank | 2,069th girls | 681st girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 734th |
| First recorded | 1907 | 1962 |
| Girls / boys | 567 / 0 | 4,960 / 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.
Which name is older
Half of the Percillas alive today are over 60; half the Persephones are over 6. That is 54 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 Persephone.