boy's name
Pierre
pee-YAIR
- Origin French
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 915,561
France
#206
2025 births
Pierre is a boy's name, the French form of Peter, from the Greek for rock. With 913,229 recorded births it is the largest French name on this site that had no page, and it still ranks 206th in France.
- Pierre is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 1930, when 16,485 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 2,267 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Pierre over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 94,320 |
| 1910s | 95,675 |
| 1920s | 158,720 |
| 1930s | 142,655 |
| 1940s | 103,185 |
| 1950s | 81,480 |
| 1960s | 56,145 |
| 1970s | 30,590 |
| 1980s | 46,085 |
| 1990s | 48,880 |
| 2000s | 25,060 |
| 2010s | 8,690 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,985 |
What Pierre means
Pierre means rock or stone. The Greek name behind it translated an Aramaic nickname, so the name begins as a description of one man rather than as a word already used for people.
Where Pierre comes from
Pierre is French for Peter and also the ordinary French noun for a stone, which keeps the meaning visible in a way English lost. It descends from the Greek Petros, itself a rendering of the Aramaic Kephas — the nickname Jesus gives Simon in the Gospels, on which he says he will build his church. The name did not exist before that moment. In France it became one of the small set of names that dominated naming for centuries, and it carries a distinct national weight: Pierre Curie, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pierre de Coubertin, who revived the Olympic Games in 1894. The compound forms Jean-Pierre and Pierre-Louis are a French pattern with no real English equivalent.
Pierre in use
Pierre peaked in France in 1930, when 16,485 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 206th in France on 260 births, 1253rd in the United States on 159 and 2342nd in England and Wales, across 915,561 lifetime births. That total is the largest of any French-market name on this site that had no written page, and its reach outside France is modest — this is a name that stayed where it started.
How popular is Pierre?
In 2025, Pierre was given to 260 babies in France, ranking #206 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Pierre is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Pierre
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Pierre also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Pierre over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Pierre
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Pierre in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Aragonese
- Pedro
- Armenian
- Petros
- Basque
- Kepa
- Bulgarian
- Petar
- Czech
- Petr
- Galician
- Pedro
- German
- Peter
- Greek
- Petros
- Icelandic
- Per
- Latin
- Petrus
- Lombard
- Peder
- Macedonian
- Petar
- Polish
- Piotr
- Portuguese
- Pedro
- Romanian
- Petru
- Slovak
- Peter
- Spanish
- Pedro
- Ukrainian
- Petro
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Peer
Sibling names for Pierre
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Pierre — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Pierre
What does the name Pierre mean?
Rock or stone — it is both the French form of Peter and the ordinary French word for a stone.
Is Pierre the same name as Peter?
Yes. Both descend from the Greek Petros, which translated the Aramaic nickname Kephas.
How popular is Pierre?
206th in France, down from a 1930 peak of 16,485 births.
Why are there so many Jean-Pierres?
French naming favors hyphenated compounds built on a small set of core names, a pattern with no real English equivalent.
Is Pierre a girl's or a boy's name?
Pierre is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Pierre?
Pierre has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Pierre?
Pierre is usually shortened to Pierrot.
Is Pierre a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Pierre currently ranks #206 in France. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.