Pérola
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Meaning
the Portuguese word for 'pearl', used directly as a feminine given name in Brazil
The story
Pérola is simply the Portuguese word for pearl, worn as a name, and Brazil is wearing it right now: the 2022 census counted 30,391 Pérolas with a median age of three. Three. The curve is a sprint: 503 born in the 1990s, 2,047 in the 2000s, 11,597 in the 2010s, and 15,266 already this decade, past the full decade before it with years to spare. The name had quiet Brazilian credentials all along: Pérola Byington, born Pearl Ellis McIntyre, was the philanthropist whose name a great São Paulo hospital carries, and the actress Pérola Faria, born in Rio in 1991, brought it to television. No reference book gives Pérola an ancient etymology, because it does not need one: the word is the meaning. A gem name in the most literal sense, having its moment.
How popular is Pérola around the world?
Pérola does not appear in US Social Security baby-name records, which list only names given to at least five babies in a year. There is no popularity curve to chart: a genuinely rare pick. At the 2022 census, 30,391 people in Brazil were named Pérola, the 818th most common name, with a median age of 3.
Pérola is on the official records of Brazil.
United States
under 5 a year
Pérola does not appear in US Social Security baby-name records, which list only names given to at least five babies in a year. There is no popularity curve to chart: a genuinely rare pick.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Brazil
1 in 6,700
At the 2022 census, 30,391 people in Brazil were named Pérola, the 818th most common name, with a median age of 3.
Among people named Pérola living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 15,266 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
England and Wales
last on record 2023
Pérola is not on the 2025 record for England and Wales, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Scotland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the South Australia record for 1944 to 2017: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years.
Keep exploring
The Pérola deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Pérola truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Pérola fits with your family’s names and surname.
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