Persephone vs Pervis
American parents have registered 4,960 Persephones since 1880, against 878 Pervises. Persephone is still ahead, with 372 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Persephone Pervis
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 114 years in which either name was published, Pervis for 71 years and Persephone for 43 years. The lead changed hands 9 times.
- 1892–1970 Pervis ahead
- 1971–1972 Persephone ahead
- 1973 Pervis ahead
- 1974 Persephone ahead
- 1975–1979 Pervis ahead
- 1980–1981 Persephone ahead
- 1982–1986 Pervis ahead
- 1987–1991 Persephone ahead
- 1992 Pervis ahead
- 1993–2025 Persephone ahead
Side by side
| Persephone | Pervis | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 4,960 | 878 |
| Most in one year | 429 | 21 |
| Babies in 2025 | 372 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 4,900 | 470 |
| Median age today | 6 | 59 |
| Peak year | 2022 | 1965 |
| Best rank | 681st girls | 1,720th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 734th | unranked |
| First recorded | 1962 | 1892 |
| Girls / boys | 4,960 / 0 | 0 / 878 |
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 Pervises alive today are over 59; half the Persephones are over 6. That is 53 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: Persephone and Pervis.