# Horace (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/horace/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Latin |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˈhɔɹəs/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Horry |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 54,356 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 54,154 / 202 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 51, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Latin Horatius, a Roman family name of obscure origin, possibly from Etruscan. Doublet of Horatio.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1933 | 8 | 3,247 |
| 1934 | 7 | 3,602 |
| 1937 | 8 | 3,267 |
| 1938 | 5 | 4,591 |
| 1939 | 7 | 3,585 |
| 1943 | 6 | 4,398 |
| 1948 | 7 | 4,356 |
| 1949 | 13 | 2,906 |
| 1951 | 5 | 5,735 |
| 1953 | 6 | 5,290 |
| 1955 | 8 | 4,526 |
| 1957 | 8 | 4,679 |
| 1960 | 5 | 6,719 |
| 1961 | 6 | 6,098 |
| 1962 | 5 | 6,940 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 35 | 3,197 |
| 2012 | 26 | 3,938 |
| 2013 | 17 | 5,256 |
| 2014 | 40 | 2,905 |
| 2015 | 23 | 4,339 |
| 2016 | 23 | 4,382 |
| 2017 | 28 | 3,821 |
| 2018 | 20 | 4,812 |
| 2019 | 22 | 4,535 |
| 2020 | 18 | 5,111 |
| 2021 | 17 | 5,419 |
| 2022 | 22 | 4,611 |
| 2023 | 18 | 5,324 |
| 2024 | 18 | 5,307 |
| 2025 | 14 | 6,245 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 3 | 2,901 |
| 2003 | 3 | 3,467 |
| 2008 | 3 | 4,432 |
| 2009 | 4 | 3,744 |
| 2010 | 6 | 2,941 |
| 2011 | 3 | 4,647 |
| 2012 | 4 | 3,987 |
| 2013 | 4 | 3,822 |
| 2015 | 4 | 3,908 |
| 2017 | 3 | 4,812 |
| 2019 | 4 | 3,937 |
| 2021 | 3 | 4,789 |
| 2023 | 4 | 4,107 |
| 2024 | 3 | 5,119 |

## In other languages

- Esperanto: Horacio
- French: Horace
- Greek: Οράτιος
- Irish: Horás
- Italian: Orazio
- Latin: Horatius
- Polish: Horacy
- Portuguese: Horácio
- Romanian: Horațiu
- Russian: Гораций
- Spanish: Horacio
- Ukrainian: Гора́цій

## People named Horace

- Horace Walpole, English writer and politician (1717–1797)
- Horace Greeley, American politician and publisher (1811–1872)
- Horace Bénédict de Saussure, Genevan scientist (1740–1799)
- Horace Vernet, French painter (1789–1863)
- Horace Silver, American jazz pianist and composer (1928–2014)
- Horace Parnell Tuttle, American astronomer (1837–1923)
- Horace Grant, American basketball player (born 1965)
- Horace McCoy, American writer (1897–1955)
- Horace W. Babcock, American astronomer (1912–2003)
- Horace Lamb, English mathematician (*1849 – †1934)
- Horace Ashenfelter, American athletics competitor (1923-2018)
- Horace Wells, American dentist and anaesthesia pioneer (1815-1848)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.