Pierce
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Meaning
surname meaning 'son of Piers', a medieval form of Peter (Greek 'rock')
The story
Pierce is Peter twice removed: the Greek petros, rock, became the medieval English Piers, the plowman hero of a great fourteenth-century poem, and Piers grew the surname that circled back to the certificate. The record kept a small steady flame for nine decades, between about 130 and 560 boys a decade from the 1890s through the 1970s, then caught: about 780 in the 1980s, 2,400 in the 1990s, 4,900 in the 2000s, 5,900 in the 2010s, and 3,370 so far this decade among boys. In our records it goes to boys about 20,100 to 390 girls, beside Peter himself at about 584,900 boys. A rock, a plowman, a surname, a first name again: few names have made the round trip so completely and arrived sounding this sharp.
Pierce across languages
One shared root links 6 names across 4 languages.
Shared root: from Greek petros "rock", translating the Aramaic byname Kepha; the European forms descend from Latin Petrus
The constellation
More branches
How popular is Pierce around the world?
In the United States, 3,519 babies were named Pierce between 2020 and 2025.
Pierce is on the official records of the United States, Canada, Ireland and South Australia.
United States
1 in 6,200
In the United States, 3,519 babies were named Pierce between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Pierce peaked in the 2010s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 9,600
In Canada, 38 boys named Pierce were born in 2024, the 706th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Ireland
1 in 14,000
In Ireland, 4 boys named Pierce were born in 2025, the 676th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
South Australia
1 in 18,0002017
In South Australia, 1 boy was registered as Pierce in 2017.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Austria
last on record 2023
Pierce is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
England and Wales
last on record 2024
Pierce is not on the 2025 record for England and Wales, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
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
Scotland
last on record 2019
Pierce is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Poland: 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 Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Pierce
Most people given the name Pierce in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Pierce deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Pierce 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 Pierce fits with your family’s names and surname.
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