Percival

French

"one who pierces the valley"

Percival Origin and Meaning

The name Percival is a boy's name of French origin meaning "one who pierces the valley".

There are several Percivals scattered through the Harry Potter series, which might help transform the old-fangled, fussy image it has accrued. Actually, the original Percival was the one perfectly pure Knight of the Round Table, a worthy hero. The name was invented in the twelfth century by a poet named Chretien de Troyes, for his ideal knight in the poem Percevale, a Knight of King Arthur.

Percival is found in other forms of literature as well, including Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, and Tennyson's "Idylls of the King" contains a section devoted to Sir Percival. Wagner transformed the name to Parsifal for his opera.

Percy, which seems like a nickname for Percival but is really a stand-alone Norman place name, is beginning to attract some favorable attention from cutting-edge namers.

Percival Rank in US Top 1000

# 914 in the US

Percival Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 380 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Percival

• 380 Nameberry 2025
• 855 England 2023

20 Names Similar to Percival

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Percival.

• Ignatius
• Constantine
• Balthazar
• Cyril
• Cornelius
• Ulysses
• Florian
• Mordecai
• Marius
• Isidore
• Horatio
• Amadeus
• Peregrine
• Cecil
• Virgil
• Lazarus
• Fabian
• Augustine
• Romulus
• Oberon

Famous People Named Percival

• Percival Lawrence Lowell American businessman and astronomer
• Percival Everett American novelist
• Percival Green Spencer English balloonist
• Percival Leitch Hussey Australian cricketer
• Percival Drayton U.S. Navy captain
• William Percival "Percy" Harvin American football player
• Troy Percival American baseball player
• Neil Percival Young Canadian singer,songwriter
• Percival Serle Australian biographer

The name Percival in Pop Culture

• Percival ocelot in Achievement Hunter's "Let's Play Minecraft" series
• Sir Percival legendary Knight of the Round Table
• Sir Percival Blakeney main character in the "Scarlet Pimpernel" series
• Sir Percival Glyde character in "The Woman in White" (1860) by Wilkie Collins
• Percival Ignatius "Percy" Weasley character in the Harry Potter series
• Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore character in the Harry Potter series and son of Percival Dumbledore
• Percival Pratt wizard poet in the Harry Potter series
• Percival Graves character in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" by J.K. Rowling
• Percival Spence Parks character in video game series "Resident Evil"
• Percival "Perry" Cox doctor on the TV show "Scrubs"
• Percival Dalton character on TV's "Little House on the Prairie"
• Percival Wemys Madison character in book/movie "Lord of the Flies"
• Percival C. McLeach villain in Disney's "The Rescuers Down Under"
• Mr Percival pelican in Australian movie "Storm Boy"
• Percival Pettigrew Pennington Pitt character in Jenny Nimmo's "The Children of the Red King" series
• Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III "Percy" a character in the Dungeons and Dragons series Critical Role
• Charles Percival St. Cloud main character in movie "Charlie St. Cloud"
• Percival Polish folk band
• Percival British aircraft company