Meaning and background
The story behind Percival
Percival belongs to Arthurian literary naming. Behind the Name credits Chrétien de Troyes with its creation and gives two possible influences: an Old French phrase involving piercing a valley, or a looser relationship with Welsh Peredur. The alternatives should stay open rather than become one confident translation. A dog named Percival can carry the Grail-story association while the source's uncertainty about the formation remains intact.
- Origin
- Literary name associated with Chrétien de Troyes; French phrase and Welsh Peredur explanations are alternatives. Source
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About Percival
Recorded as a dog’s name
Percival appears in 3 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/pɝsɪvəl/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/pɝsɪvəl/ · primary stress on syllable 1P ER1 S IH0 V AH0 L
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.