How common is the surname Peirce?

3,111 people in the United States had the surname Peirce in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 99,243 Americans. It ranked 10,358th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Peirce?

Charles Sanders Peirce, American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist (1839-1914), followed by Benjamin Peirce.

Where is the surname Peirce most common?

Wikidata records people named Peirce in the United States and South Africa.

Is the surname Peirce getting more or less common?

About as common. 3,111 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,111 in 2010, a change of 0.0%.

Is Peirce also a first name?

Yes. Peirce is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Peirce

A patronymic surname, carried by 3,111 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex P620

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Peirce is more common than 93.6% of them.

Origin

A variant of Piers.

Peirce is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 3,111 people named Peirce in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 99,243 Americans. That is about the same as in 2000, when the Census counted 3,111.

#10,358

rank among US surnames

3,111

people in 2010

1.1

per 100,000 Americans

change since 2000 (was #9,585)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#10,352	Sias	3,112	99,211
#10,358	Peirce	3,111	99,243
#10,365	Bollman	3,110	99,275

Who is named Peirce

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

91% of people named Peirce identified as white (not Hispanic), 3.3% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 91%
Black (not Hispanic) 3.3%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
Two or more races 1.9%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Peirces

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Charles Sanders Peirce
American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist (1839-1914)
Benjamin Peirce
American mathematician (1809–1880)
Kimberly Peirce
American film director, born 1967
Ernest Peirce
Boxer, 1909–1998
Evelyn Peirce
American actress (1908–1960)
Benjamin Osgood Peirce
American mathematician (1854–1914)

Notable Peirces come mostly from the United States (5) and South Africa (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Peirce

Peirce has the Soundex code P620, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code P620.

Questions

Where does the surname Peirce come from?: A variant of Piers.
How common is the surname Peirce?: 3,111 people in the United States had the surname Peirce in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 99,243 Americans. It ranked 10,358th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Peirce?: In the 2010 Census, 91% of people named Peirce identified as white (not Hispanic), and 3.3% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Peirce?: Charles Sanders Peirce, American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist (1839-1914), followed by Benjamin Peirce.
Where is the surname Peirce most common?: Wikidata records people named Peirce in the United States and South Africa.
What type of surname is Peirce?: Peirce is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Peirce getting more or less common?: About as common. 3,111 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,111 in 2010, a change of 0.0%.
Is Peirce also a first name?: Yes. Peirce is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.