Percy

What Percy means

Short form of Percival, meaning “pierce + valley”

clipping of Percival || Shaped like Old French percier (“pierce”) + val (“valley”), but probably representing some Gaulish or Old Welsh name, possibly related to Welsh Peredur, from ber (“spear, lance”) (from Middle Welsh ber, from Proto-Brythonic *ber, from Proto

Source: Wiktionary, “Percy” (revision 92705127) and “Percival” (revision 93673068), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Percy?

US: Rising: up from #2276 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #485 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1897, when 183 boys got the name (#98 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 11,091 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 1,789 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in UT (0.31 per 1,000 boys), MN (0.29 per 1,000 boys), LA (0.26 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Percy is #1276 in the US and #299 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 93.9% of US babies named Percy were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Pierce598 US
• Pearce22 US
• Perez7 US · 10 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Percy

Boys

• Franklin#359“freeholder”^*
• Wesley#52“west + wood, clearing”^*
• Forrest#374“forest”^*
• Sterling#345Variant of Stirling, possibly meaning “stream + pool, lake”^*
• Wade#344“a ford”^*
• Wallace#960“foreign”^*

For a sister

• Darcy#857“to burn, consume”^*
• Fallon#778“descendant of Fallamhan”^*
• Murphy#397“descendant of Murrough”^*
• Blake#295“black”^*
• Kori#978Form of Corey, possibly meaning “troop, host, company”^*
• Merritt#703Editor’s note Used for both: 77% of US babies named Merritt in 2025 were girls

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under From a surname, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Percy’s. Rank is US 2025.