Constance
Feminine · “steadfastness”
Constance is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 139,975 girls against 419 boys since 1880.
Constance came into English with the Normans and never quite left: Chaucer told the tale of a patient heroine he spelled Custance, and Shakespeare gave the name to a grieving duchess in King John. It is three unhurried syllables that end in a soft hiss, and it shortens in one obvious direction — Connie — a pairing that has held for centuries.
How old is the name Constance?
Constance was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Constance alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 82,500 people named Constance are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Constance most popular?
Constance peaked in 1949, reaching #83 nationally. Today it ranks #1500, 1,417 places below that high. See the whole 1949 chart.
Where it comes from
From Constantia to Constance
The story of Constance
The name begins as the Latin Constantia, the feminine counterpart to Constans and Constantius, names carried by late Roman emperors and by early Christians who liked their plain moral sense. Old French turned it into Constance, and Norman families brought that form to England after the Conquest, where it stayed in noble use through the Middle Ages — Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale gave it to his long-suffering heroine as Custance. The Reformation gave it a second life among English Puritans, who valued names built from virtues, and it crossed the Atlantic with them. It has been on the English record continuously ever since, and remains in living use in France as well.
Meaning
steadfastness, constancy
From Latin constantia, an abstract noun meaning firmness or perseverance, related to constans, 'standing firm'.
How the name formed
- Constantia
- ConstanceOld French
- CustanceMiddle English
- Constance
Related forms: Constance · Costanza · Constanza · Konstanze · Konstancja · Constança
Pronouncing Constance
KON-stanss
Stress falls on the first syllable; the middle vowel is usually reduced to almost nothing, so it can sound like KON-stənss. The French Constance is said kon-STAHNSS.
Nicknames for Constance
High
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19514,367 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #83reached in 1949
- Change vs 2022
- +18.3%142 in 2025, from 120
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.
Constance in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Constance in French — same name
- Costanza in Italian — same name
- Constanza in Spanish — same name
- Konstanze in German — same name
- Konstancja in Polish — same name
- Constança in Portuguese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from INSEE. Sources
Constances among us
people named Constance are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 11,319 born in 2025 was named Constance
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 Opal test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Constance's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Opal climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Opal's path sketches the road Constance is walking now.
Constance sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Constance is headed
Constance 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.
Constance beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Constance in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An unbroken record in English since the Norman period, with a documented Latin meaning parents can state in two words.
- Recognizable spelling — no one needs it spelled out twice, and it has never had competing English variants.
- One well-worn short form in Connie, plus room for Con or Coco, so a child has choices without inventing anything.
- Works across languages: Costanza, Constanza, Konstanze and Constança are the same name, and the French form is in current use.
- Connie is the default short form, and it is much more common among older generations than young ones — worth deciding in advance whether you are happy for it to become the everyday name.
- Three syllables with an unstressed middle can get compressed in fast speech, and pairs a little awkwardly with surnames that also start with a hard C or K sound.
- The meaning is a virtue, which some people find plain-spoken and others find a bit sermon-like. Nothing about the name insists on it in daily use.
- A child with this name is unlikely to meet another, which cuts both ways: no last-initial problem, but also a name teachers may pause over the first time.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Constance to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Constance
Feminine · #1500 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Constances are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 82,500 people named Constance are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Constance in 2025?
- Constance ranks #1500 among US girl names in 2025, with 142 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Constance?
- About 1 in every 11,319 US girls born in 2025 was named Constance — 142 in all.
- Will my child share the name Constance with classmates?
- Constance will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Constance
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Preslee#1500 · Kapri#1500 · Joselyn#1500 · Kianna#1500 · Jenny#1500 · Nashly#1500 · Zhuri#1500 · Ayzal#1500
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Constance? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Constance and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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