# Hortense (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/hortense/  
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 | girls |
| Origin | French |
| Meaning | “name of a roman gens”, “having to do with gardens” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈhɔː(ɹ)tɛns/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 6,313 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 0 / 6,313 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

From the French form of the Latin Hortēnsia, feminine form of Hortēnsius (“name of a Roman gens”), probably derived from hortēnsis (“having to do with gardens”) on the basis that the first to bear the name was a gardener.

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 16 | 3,138 |
| 1961 | 13 | 3,673 |
| 1962 | 12 | 3,874 |
| 1963 | 10 | 4,365 |
| 1964 | 10 | 4,460 |
| 1965 | 6 | 6,066 |
| 1966 | 9 | 4,629 |
| 1967 | 10 | 4,407 |
| 1968 | 7 | 5,849 |
| 1969 | 11 | 4,537 |
| 1970 | 5 | 8,446 |
| 1971 | 7 | 6,862 |
| 1972 | 6 | 7,600 |
| 1975 | 5 | 9,582 |
| 1976 | 6 | 8,508 |

## In other languages

- Polish: Hortensja

## People named Hortense

- Hortense Haudebourt-Lescot, French painter (1784-1845)
- Hortense Allart, French-Italian writer and feminist
- Hortense Powdermaker, American anthropologist, professor and researcher (1900–1970)
- Hortense Calisher, American novelist, short story writer, and memoirist (1911-2009)
- Hortense-Félicité de Mailly-Nesle, (1715-1799)
- Eugénie de Beauharnais, Franco-German princess (1808-1847)
- Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau, American chemical engineer (1910-2000)
- Selma Burke, American sculptor (1900-1995)
- Evelyne Sossouhounto, Benin teacher and politician (1956–2024)

## 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.