Pierce

What Pierce means

Form of Peter, meaning “stone, rock”

variant of Piers || From Middle English Peter, from Old English Petrus, from Latin Petrus, from Ancient Greek Πέτρος (Pétros), from πέτρος (pétros, “stone, rock”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Pierce” (revision 92720370) and “Peter” (revision 94542550), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Pierce?

US: Steady: #465 in 2015, #505 now.

Biggest US share so far: 2025, when 598 boys got the name (#505 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 2,856 baby boys in the US 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 MT (1.33 per 1,000 boys), SD (1.3 per 1,000 boys), KS (0.85 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Pierce is #505 in the US. It is not in the England & Wales list for 2025.

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

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 96.8% of US babies named Pierce were boys.

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

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Percy154 US · 152 E&W
• Pearce22 US
• Piers5 US

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 Pierce

Boys

• Damian#109“to tame”^*
• Sebastian#16“august, venerable, exalted”^*
• Xander#259Diminutive of Alexander, meaning “to defend + man”^*
• Zander#396Diminutive of Alexander, meaning “to defend + man”^*
• Solomon#422“peace”^*
• Isaias#426Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #426 vs #3,256 in 2025

For a sister

• Zoe#31Variant of Zoë, meaning “life”^*
• Lydia#92“the region of Lydia”^*
• Zoey#69Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1967, with 6 babies
• Sophie#55French form of Sophia, meaning “wisdom”^*
• Sophia#5“wisdom”^*
• Maya#62Editor’s note Steady in the US: #68 in 2015 and #62 in 2025. About 1 in 430 US girls in the 2025 records

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