Dace
Masculine
Dace is given to both — 524 boys and 18 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Dace is a small freshwater fish, a Latvian woman's name, and a short form of Dacian and Candace. The American record of the 1950s is too thin to say which of these produced it, and probably none of them did.
How old is the name Dace?
Dace first appears in US birth records in 1958 — 67 years ago. The typical Dace alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 500 people named Dace are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dace most popular?
Dace peaked in 1958, reaching #2370 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 3,238 places below that high. See the whole 1958 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Dace
One-syllable men's names ending in a soft c or s were doing quiet work in mid-century America: Chase, Ace, Bryce, Vance, Lance, Dace, Trace. What they share is a shape — a single closed syllable with a sharp ending — that reads as terse and modern, and most of them have thin or absent histories as given names. Chase is a surname, Lance is a weapon and a shortening of Lancelot, Vance is an English place name; Dace has less than any of them. Its 1958 peak sits in the middle of that small group's run, and its most likely origin is the group itself rather than any of the words that happen to share its spelling.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source establishes an etymology for the American given name. The English word dace, a small river fish, comes through Old French from a Latin word of uncertain sense. Latvian Dace is a woman's name, a form of Dorothea. Dace also serves as a clipping of Dacian and Horace. None is documented as the source, and the name may simply be a formation on the -ace sound shared with Chase and Ace.
Pronouncing Dace
DAYSS
One syllable, rhyming with face. Latvian Dace is DAH-tseh with two syllables, which is an entirely different name.
Nicknames for Dace
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
- 1958
- Most boys named
- 201123 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2370reached in 1958
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%16 in 2025, from 16
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.
Dace in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Dace in Latvian — related form
Daces among us
people named Dace are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Dace
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 Kelso test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dace's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kelso climbed just as high around 1933, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kelso's path sketches the road Dace is walking now.
Dace 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
Dace beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dace in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and four letters, about as compact as a name gets.
- Everyone can say it on sight.
- Ace sits inside it as a ready short form.
- There is no established meaning or origin.
- It is a small fish in English, which a curious child will find.
- Dace, Dayce and Dase are all possible spellings.
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Dace
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Daces are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Dace are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dace in 2025?
- Dace ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dace?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Dace — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dace with classmates?
- Dace will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dace
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dace? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dace and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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