About the name Percival
Invented by a twelfth-century French poet for the naive knight who stumbles into the Grail castle, Percival was never a common name so much as a literary object. Wagner turned it into Parsifal, the Victorians revived it briefly, and it has been a curiosity ever since.
Percival is a boy name of Old French origin, pronounced PER-si-vul. On the NameRarity scale it scores 93 out of 100, which places it in the ultra rare band — fewer than 1 in 10,000 people carry this name. You will almost never meet another. Its strongest period was the Victorian era.
Name facts at a glance
How popular is Percival?
Percival currently falls outside the US top 1,000, which is a large part of why it scores so highly for rarity. Roughly 1.9 people per million carry it — about 1 in 526,316. In a school of 1,000 pupils you would expect not to find a single one.
Famous people named Percival
- Percival LowellAmerican astronomer
Spellings and variants of Percival
Names similar to Percival
Mortimer
MOR-tih-mer
Still water — from mort mer, dead sea
Pratham
PRUH-thum
First, foremost, the one who leads
Anantha
uh-NUN-thah
Endless, the cosmic serpent on whom Vishnu reclines
Bharadwaj
BHUH-rud-waaj
Bringer of strength or nourishment, a Saptarishi of the Rigveda
Durvasa
dur-VAA-suh
Difficult to live with, the short-tempered Puranic sage
Eklavya
ay-KLUV-yah
Self-taught archer of the Mahabharata
Jaspal
JUS-paal
Protector of glory
Jericho
JEH-ri-koh
City of the moon, fragrant place
Percival — frequently asked questions
What does the name Percival mean?
Percival means "Pierce the valley". It is a name of Old French origin, most often given to a boy.
How do you pronounce Percival?
Percival is pronounced PER-si-vul, with 3 syllables.
How rare is the name Percival?
Percival scores 93 out of 100 on the NameRarity scale, which makes it ultra rare. Roughly 1 in every 526,316 people carry it — about 1.9 per million.
What is the numerology number for Percival?
Percival carries the expression number 5, known as The Free Spirit. Its soul urge number is 6 and its personality number is 8.
What is the lucky number and lucky colour for Percival?
The lucky number for Percival is 5 (with 14, 23, 32 also favourable), and its lucky colour is Bright Turquoise. The traditional lucky day is Wednesday and the associated gemstone is Aquamarine.