Given name & surname
Pierre
“as solid and strong as a rock”
Pierre is a form of Peter. One Greek interpretation is “as solid and strong as a rock.”
Original FrenchPerrot
Meaning & origin
What it means
In French use, Pierre carries the interpretation “as solid and strong as a rock.” Pierre is a form of Peter. One Greek interpretation is “as solid and strong as a rock.”
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is French.
How it developed
In French use, Pierre is used as a form of Peter.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Pierre through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 19,143
- 19,069 boys · 74 girls
- Most popular year
- 1988
- 482 babies
- 2025
- 159
- #1,253 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −2%
- Steady
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 159 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 1,253 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 1.8% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 475 in 1988. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (18). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 22,575 as a first name in 2020; 39,005 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Pierre’s family of names
In French usage, Pierre has a diminutive in Perry. Pierre shares a linguistic root with Peter. In French usage, Pierre has a conventional equivalent in the Spanish form Pedro.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Pierre has relatives in 19 languages. Lines run from its French roots to each of them.
Frenchwhere Pierre comes from · 11 names
Nicknames & forms 22
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 52
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Perrotderivative · French
- Petercognate · English, German
- Pedrodoublet · Spanish
- PietroItalian
- Pieroequivalent
- Petarequivalent
- Petrosequivalent
- PieterDutch
Show 44 moreShow fewer
- Pederequivalent
- Petroequivalent
- Perequivalent
- Peerequivalent
- Petterequivalent
- PiotrPolish
- Petrusolder form · Dutch, Latin
- PetrCzech
- Peruequivalent
- Kepaequivalent
- Pieyreequivalent
- Петърequivalent
- Pietequivalent
- Pjeturequivalent
- Pietariequivalent
- Pēterisequivalent
- Pèireequivalent
- Peteloequivalent
- Petkoequivalent
- Petteriequivalent
- Pjetërequivalent
- Péterequivalent
- Peetuequivalent
- Petriequivalent
- Petrasequivalent
- Պետրոսequivalent
- Pêrequivalent
- Pjeterequivalent
- Pehrequivalent
- Péturequivalent
- Петроequivalent
- Peroequivalent
- 彼得Chinese
- ПьерRussian
- ПётрRussian
- Pyèderivative · Haitian Creole
- Pirecognate · Walloon
- Perecognate · Catalan
- Pyotrequivalent
- Peeterequivalent
- Petruequivalent
- ΠιερGreek
- ピエールJapanese
- Πέτροςroot · Ancient Greek
People named Pierre
- Pierre CurieFrench physicist and chemist (1859–1906)
- Pierre-Auguste RenoirFrench painter and sculptor (1841–1919)
- Pierre de Coubertinfounder of modern Olympic Games, pedagogue and historian (1863-1937)
- Pierre de FermatFrench mathematician and lawyer1601–1665
- Pierre CorneilleFrench tragedian (1606–1684)
- Peter AbelardFrench scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician (c.1079-1142)
- Théophile GautierFrench poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic (1811–1872)
- David GuettaFrench DJ and electronic music producer (born 1967)
- Pierre TrudeauPrime Minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and 1980 to 1984 (1919–2000)
Characters named Pierre: Pierre Bezukhov (protagonist of Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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