Pearl: Baby Name of the Day

Simple, elegant, and so much more than just a gemstone name, the baby name Pearl is almost as classic as Rose.

Thanks to Kate for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.

WHAT DOES THE NAME PEARL MEAN?

Like many a precious gem, Pearl first appears as given name during the nineteenth century. In the US, the name ranked as high as #24 in the 1890s. It remained in the US Top 100 well into the 1920s.

A beautiful pearl is rare. Mollusks, typically oysters, produce the gems. In nature, a bit of sand slips inside the shell. An elegant defense system coats the grain with a shiny substance as a barrier. Pearl farming means that divers no longer pry open every oyster hoping for a jackpot. Oysters are still necessary, but the sand is slipped in on purpose.

So pearls come from oysters, but the word is a little harder to trace.

The Old French word was perle, and is first recorded in the 1200s. But the usual Latin was margarita, from the Greek margarites – the source of the classic Margaret. Theories abound, linking pearl to words for similar shapes. There’s the Old English pere, for pear and the Sicilian perna, or ham. We just don’t know for certain.

Nonetheless, we’ve been wearing the gems forever. The earliest record goes back to China, circa 2300 BC. Royals used to sew them into their clothing. We still crush them up as cosmetics.

We tend to think of them as a silvery-white, pink, or pale gray color. Pearls actually occur in a wide range of colors, including black.

It’s the birthstone for June, making this name a logical choice for a summer baby.

SPIRITUAL and LITERARY PEARL

The Pearl of Great Price is a New Testament parable. According to Matthew, Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to the costliest pearl. (Since pearl farming hadn’t been invented then, pearls would’ve been rare indeed.) This makes the name a subtle spiritual choice.

The name picks up a literary dimension thanks to:

• In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, adulteress Hester Prynne give the name to her daughter. Published in 1850, the story was set in the 1640s.
• American writer Pearl S. Buck grew up in China with her missionary parents. Buck won the Pulitzer Prize for her enduring 1931 novel The Good Earth.
• In 1947, John Steinbeck wrote a novella called The Pearl – his hero was a poor pearl diver searching for one perfect gem to pay medical bills for his son.

The devastating attack at Pearl Harbor in 1941 adds another kind of meaning to the name.

And a “pearl of wisdom” can be a good piece of advice. The phrase dates to at least the 1500s. That puts Pearl in the same category as Sophia and Sage.

POP CULTURE PEARLS

The baby name Pearl faded in use during the twentieth century, heading towards obscurity in the 1970s and 80s.

But it wasn’t completely out of our collective memory.

Comedian Sarah Colley became a star of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, and then nationally known as part of the cast of Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991. We know her as Minnie Pearl.

In the 1990s, Pearl Jam emerged from Seattle’s grunge scene to become one of the most influential bands of the decade.

Then there’s Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. Painted around 1665, it was restored in 1994. By the late twentieth century, it was a widely recognized portrait, often inspiring other works. The girl’s identity is unknown.

In 1999, Tracy Chevalier imagined the girl was Griet, a servant in Vermeer’s household. Chevalier’s novel, also titled Girl with a Pearl Earring, became a bestseller. Griet is short for Margriet, the Dutch form of Margaret – which also means pearl.

In 2003, Scarlett Johansson starred as Griet in the movie adaptation of the novel.

On a very different note, fans of Sponge Bob Square Pants might think of Pearl Krabs, the teenage daughter of Sponge Bob’s boss, Mr. Krabs. Pearl is a whale. The character first appeared in 1999.

HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME PEARL?

The baby name Pearl enjoyed a brief mini-revival in the early twenty-first century.

After spending the second half of the twentieth century in decline, Pearl began to gain in use around the year 2000. Credit to the novel Girl with a Pearl Earring, possibly.

A handful of celebrities, including Maya Rudolph and Jack Osborne, named their daugthers Pearl.

The name reached #567 in 2016. But the peak didn’t last. Pearl now ranks just #805 as of 2023.

Perla, the Spanish and Italian form of the name, has left the US Top 1000 entirely.

VINTAGE and MEANINGFUL GEMSTONE NAME

Pearl is spare, sophisticated, and undeniably vintage, with layers of meaning – just like the gemstone.

And while it’s declined in use, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a great option for parents looking for a fits-in/stands-out name for a girl.

What do you think of the baby name Pearl?

This post was originally published on February 21, 2009. It was substantially revised on September 21, 2015 and September 8, 2024.