Humanverse

Permelia vs Perri

American parents have registered 2,562 Perris since 1880, against 551 Permelias. Perri is still ahead, with 26 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Permelia against Perri, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Permelia Perri

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 134 years in which either name was published, Perri for 80 years and Permelia for 54 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Permelia Perri
Total US births 5512,562
Most in one year 20133
Babies in 2025 under 526
Estimated living today 902,400
Median age today 7833
Peak year 19181958
Best rank 1,887th girls947th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked4,987th
First recorded 18801942
Girls / boys 551 / 02,448 / 114

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 Permelias alive today are over 78; half the Perris are over 33. That is 45 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: Permelia and Perri.