Fun Facts About the Name Pecos
- 57 babies named Pecos: U.S. records list 57 babies given the name Pecos from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Pecos Mean?
Pecos is a place name from the American Southwest whose meaning is not securely established. It is generally traced to Keres, a Pueblo language of New Mexico, as a name for the pueblo that the Spanish called Pecos, though the original Keresan form and its literal sense are uncertain. The pueblo's own inhabitants spoke Towa, a Tanoan language, and used a different name for their home, so the word Pecos reached Spanish and later English from an outside source rather than from the residents themselves. Explanations that link the name to a gap, opening, or pass in the landscape are repeated but not firmly documented, and the elements of the word cannot be reliably reconstructed from available evidence.
Pecos Name History & Origins
The name Pecos entered English through Spanish colonial usage in New Mexico. Spanish explorers and missionaries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries applied it to a pueblo in the upper Pecos River valley, east of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and to the river that flows past it. That pueblo, also recorded in early Spanish accounts under the name Cicuyé, was one of the largest Pueblo settlements in the region. Its last residents left in 1838 and relocated to Jemez Pueblo; the site is now Pecos National Historical Park.
The river, a major tributary of the Rio Grande, carried the name from New Mexico into West Texas. As a personal name, Pecos is uncommon and appears mainly in the United States, where it most often serves as a surname or as a given name drawn from the river and pueblo. The cowboy hero Pecos Bill of American tall tales uses the word, but that figure belongs to nineteenth- and twentieth-century storytelling and did not give the name its origin.
How Popular is the Name Pecos?
Pecos has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2025. Its best rank was #6,790 in 1979.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #7,550 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2021 | #9,466 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 2020 | #13,547 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2017 | #9,471 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2015 | #8,548 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2012 | #11,892 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1987 | #7,829 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1979 | #6,790 | 5 | 0.0003% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Pecos Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You have a power of expression, either in speaking or writing. You are in favor for studying and research. You are clever, clear-sighted and intellectual. You don't like to let others know your true feelings. You might be atheistic or agnostic. You have an eventful, exciting life. You are versatile and have the ability to learn easily.
Dependable, very down-to-earth and well grounded, you are always looking for meaningful work, a career where you can take pride in your work and do the best job you are capable of. Your prime desire is to build protected and secure environment at home and at work. You can be very persuasive in achieving goals and gaining objectives. You can be very detailed and well-organized and possess great organizational skills. At times you may appear too stubborn and overly critical to others, but your practical approach to life and productivity makes you one of the most beneficent members of community.
✦ Pecos's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Pecos's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.