Pierre

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Pere in ES Spain, EC Ecuador, Piotr in NO Norway, Pita in IN India and Peré in AR Argentina.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Pierre is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese given name153K records spelled Pierre6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Peru, Portugal

  Also written Piérre, Pierré, Pïęŕřë, Pîêrrê

• Spanish given name138K records spelled Pierre6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Peru, United States, Spain, Argentina

  Also written Pièrre, Piérre, Pierré

• a separate given name61K records spelled Pierre8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium

  Also written Pierré, Piérre, Piërre, Pie͏̈rre, Pièrre

• Danish given name9.5K records spelled Pierre14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, United States

  Languages: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian

  Also written Pierré, Piérre, Pïerre, Pįęŕŕĕ, Pîërrê

• Swahili given name7.3K records spelled Pierre4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in South Africa, United States, Canada, Rwanda

  Languages: Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Southern Sotho

  Also written Pierré

• Polish given name7.0K records spelled Pierre9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Czechia, United States, Slovakia

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Slovak

  Also written Pièrre, Piërre, Pierrè, Pierré, Pięřře

• Finnish given name6.3K records spelled Pierre4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Sweden, United States, Canada

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Pierré

• Italian given name5.3K records spelled Pierre5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Canada, Italy, Belgium

  Also written Pierré, Pierrè, Piérre, Pièrre

119 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Pierre is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, From Greek Petros, meaning 'rock, stone'.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• From New Testament Greek. See $Peter in main dictionary. ~

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, A male given name from French, of occasional usage, equivalent to English Peter.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In French, stone (substance)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In French, du nom latin Petrus, dérivé de petra « roche, pierre ».

  as a name·Dictionnaire des noms de famille du Canada français. Anthroponymie et généalogie. 2e édition

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 145 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Innocent Vb. 1225FRnot in their usual name185th Pope of the Catholic Church
• Clemente VIb. 1291FRnot in their usual namePope of the Catholic Church and the fourth Avignon Pope (1342–1352)
• Théophile Gautierb. 1811FRnot in their usual nameFrench poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic (1811–1872)
• Marcellin Berthelotb. 1827FRnot in their usual nameFrench chemist and politician (1827-1907)
• Pierre Lavalb. 1883FRFrench politician (1883–1945)
• Jacques Chaban-Delmasb. 1915FRnot in their usual name82nd Prime Minister of France (1915–2000)
• Louis Althusserb. 1918FRnot in their usual nameFrench Marxist philosopher (1918–1990)
• Pierre Mauroyb. 1928FR86th Prime Minister of France (1928-2013)
• Éric Cantonab. 1966FRnot in their usual nameFrench footballer and actor (born 1966)
• Franck Ribéryb. 1983FRnot in their usual nameFrench footballer (born 1983)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,357 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Pierre?

We estimate roughly 2.4 million people bear Pierre (counting its spellings and scripts) across 15 countries in our records.

In which country does Pierre have the most bearers?

We estimate about 893 thousand people bear Pierre in France, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled pierre.

Where is Pierre most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Pierre is densest in Poland — about 1 in 56 people — even though France holds more of our records for it.

How common is Pierre compared with other names?

In France, Pierre is the 3rd most common given name of 711,207 given names recorded there.

Is Pierre a male or female name?

Pierre is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Pierre mean?

Recorded meaning: From Greek Petros ‘rock’; co-commemorated on 29 Jun.