Perry

Perry comes from two different directions and ends up in the same place. From the Old English pyrige it means pear tree, which gives it a particular kind of English countryside pleasantness; from Peregrine, the Latin for traveler or pilgrim, it inherits a roaming quality entirely at odds with orchard life. Both roots suit it, because Perry has always managed to be both settled and in motion at the same time.

Perry Como made it midcentury smooth. Matthew Perry made it sitcom-warm. Katy Perry borrowed it as a stage surname and took it into pop ubiquity without really changing what it felt like as a first name — friendly, unpretentious, a name you could call across a garden or a stadium with equal ease. In 2026 it is fully unisex, two compact syllables with the long ee that so many names in this register share, and it pairs naturally with the kind of last names that have Anglo-American weight. Perry reads Americana: fruit stands, hedgerows, a slightly vintage warmth that does not tip into nostalgia. It is likable without trying. That might be its best quality — a name that has nothing to prove and therefore proves quite a lot.