Ace
Masculine · Latin roots · “the one on dice or cards”
Ace is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 26,319 boys against 164 girls since 1880.
Ace began as the name of a single pip — the one on a die, the lowest card in the deck — and ended up meaning the best there is. It is one syllable, spelled exactly as it sounds, and no one in an English-speaking country needs it explained. Its current wave in the United States is very recent, but the word itself has been in the language since the Middle Ages.
How old is the name Ace?
Ace first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Ace is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 25,500 people named Ace are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ace most popular?
Ace peaked in 2022, reaching #152 nationally. Today it ranks #164, 12 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Where it comes from
From as (Latin) to Ace
The story of Ace
The word traveled from Latin 'as' — a single unit, a small Roman coin — into Old French as 'as', the one-spot on a die, and from there into Middle English. In card play its fortunes reversed: the lowest card came to outrank the king in game after game, which is roughly how 'ace' picked up its second life as a word for the best of something. The final push came from aviation in the First World War, when French pilots with a string of victories were called 'as' and English-language papers borrowed it as 'flying ace'. Ace has surfaced now and then as an American given name for generations, usually in small numbers; the steady climb it is on now is a thing of the last couple of decades.
Meaning
the one on dice or cards; by extension, an expert
The English word comes through Old French from Latin 'as', a Roman coin and unit of one. A separate, much older road exists: Ace also appears as a medieval English given name of Norman origin, unrelated to the card sense.
How the name formed
- asLatin
- asOld French
- aceMiddle English
- Ace
Pronouncing Ace
AYSS
One syllable, rhyming with face. No regional variation to worry about, and almost no one needs to hear it twice.
Nicknames for Ace
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 20222,492 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #152reached in 2022
- Change vs 2022
- −10.2%2,239 in 2025, from 2,492
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Ace in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Aces among us
people named Ace are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 763 born in 2025 was named Ace
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Andres test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ace's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Andres climbed just as high around 1993, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Andres's path sketches the road Ace is walking now.
Ace is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ace is headed
Ace should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Ace beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ace in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, four letters, spelled the way it sounds — rarely misheard, rarely misspelled, easy for a child to write early.
- A word already known to every English speaker, so it needs no explanation and no correction over the phone.
- Pairs cleanly with long or multi-syllable surnames, where a short first name carries well.
- Works as both a full given name and a standing nickname, which gives it two lives in the same four letters.
- It is a word before it is a name, and the word means 'the best'. Expect the pun — in sports, in report cards, in first introductions — for a lifetime. Some families like that; some find it a lot to hand over.
- There is no longer form to fall back on. A child who wants something more formal for a résumé or a signature has nowhere to retreat.
- Among younger people, 'ace' also circulates as shorthand for asexual, a meaning worth knowing about even though it rarely causes confusion with a name.
- The name's wave here is very new, so almost everyone who carries it is a child. That means near-certain solitude in a classroom now, and a name that will read as belonging to a particular naming moment later on.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Ace to the vote.
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Ace
Masculine · Latin roots · #164 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Aces are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 25,500 people named Ace are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ace in 2025?
- Ace ranks #164 among US boy names in 2025, with 2,239 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ace?
- About 1 in every 763 US boys born in 2025 was named Ace — 2,239 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ace with classmates?
- Ace will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ace
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jason#165 · Ivan#162 · Hayes#162 · Connor#166 · Hayden#161 · Jayce#167 · Elliott#160 · Beckham#168
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ace? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ace and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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