Purnell vs Purvis
American parents have registered 969 Purvises since 1880, against 768 Purnells. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Purnell Purvis
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 90 years in which either name was published, Purvis for 58 years and Purnell for 32 years. The lead changed hands 23 times.
- 1900–1962 Purvis ahead, apart from 4 short spells
- 1963–2010 Purnell ahead, apart from 4 short spells
14 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Purnell | Purvis | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 768 | 969 |
| Most in one year | 21 | 27 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 440 | 390 |
| Median age today | 58 | 62 |
| Peak year | 1964 | 1921 |
| Best rank | 1,850th boys | 1,448th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1913 | 1900 |
| Girls / boys | 6 / 762 | 0 / 969 |
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 Purvises alive today are over 62; half the Purnells are over 58. That is 4 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Purnell and Purvis.