Perla vs Perley
American parents have registered 20,836 Perlas since 1880, against 1,052 Perleys. Perla is still ahead, with 132 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Perla Perley
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 143 years in which either name was published, Perla for 78 years and Perley for 65 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.
Side by side
| Perla | Perley | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 20,836 | 1,052 |
| Most in one year | 1,109 | 30 |
| Babies in 2025 | 132 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 20,000 | 130 |
| Median age today | 22 | 78 |
| Peak year | 2003 | 1915 |
| Best rank | 282nd girls | 1,181st boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 1,587th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1918 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 20,806 / 30 | 32 / 1,020 |
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 Perleys alive today are over 78; half the Perlas are over 22. That is 56 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Perla Arizona (3.8×), Texas (3.7×), California (3.5×)
- Perley Maine (166.1×), Vermont (49.6×), New Hampshire (35.5×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Perla and Perley.