Perl, derived from the Latin 'perla', meaning 'pearl', is a programming language created by Larry Wall in 1987. Known for its simplicity and efficiency, Perl was initially designed to make report processing easier but has since evolved into a powerful tool for various tasks, including system administration, network programming, and GUI development.
The name Perl experienced a significant rise in popularity from the late 1990s onwards, with peaks in usage around the years 2014-2023, after having fluctuated between 5 and 20 births per year for much of the 20th century.