# Per (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/per/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 369 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 369 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 5 | 7,312 |
| 1986 | 10 | 4,388 |
| 1987 | 8 | 5,322 |
| 1988 | 9 | 5,106 |
| 1990 | 6 | 7,853 |
| 1991 | 6 | 7,981 |
| 1992 | 5 | 9,445 |
| 1997 | 8 | 7,104 |
| 1998 | 5 | 10,867 |
| 2001 | 9 | 7,362 |
| 2002 | 6 | 10,330 |
| 2004 | 6 | 10,978 |
| 2006 | 5 | 13,502 |
| 2011 | 5 | 13,810 |
| 2020 | 5 | 13,557 |

## People named Per

- Per Mertesacker, German association football player
- Per Borten, 25th Prime Minister of Norway (1913–2005)
- Per Krøldrup, Danish footballer
- Per Norgård, Danish composer (1932–2025)
- Per Kirkeby, Danish artist (1938-2018)
- Per Frandsen, Danish footballer
- Per Frimann, Danish footballer
- Per Fly, Danish filmmaker
- Per Stig Møller, Danish politician
- Per Brinch Hansen, computer scientist (1938-2007)
- Per Røntved, Danish association football player (1949-2023)
- Per Lyngemark, Danish cyclist (1941-2010)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.