Lance
Masculine
Lance is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 105,839 boys against 345 girls since 1880.
Lance came into English from Old French, where it served as a short form of older Germanic names and where it was also, plainly, the word for a knight's spear. Chrétien de Troyes wrote Lancelot into the Arthurian world in the twelfth century, and English speakers have been clipping that name down ever since. One syllable, five letters, no silent traps — it reads the same on a form as it sounds across a room.
How old is the name Lance?
Lance first appears in US birth records in 1899 — 126 years ago. The typical Lance alive today was born around 1977, making them about 48 years old. About 93,000 people named Lance are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lance most popular?
Lance peaked in 1970, reaching #76 nationally. Today it ranks #862, 786 places below that high. See the whole 1970 chart.
Lance appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Lanzo to Lance
The story of Lance
The name arrives in English through Norman French, carrying two threads at once: a Germanic personal name shortened to Lanzo, and the Old French noun for a spear. It settled in medieval England as both a given name and a surname, and it gained a second life as the natural clipping of Lancelot, the knight of the twelfth-century French Arthurian romances. American use grew steadily through the twentieth century — never a sudden fashion, more a name that kept turning up — and it remains strongly represented among the generation born in the middle decades of that century. It is best known today in the Southwest and along both coasts.
Meaningscholars disagree
From a Germanic name element meaning "land", or from the Old French word for a lance
The older line runs through the Germanic short form Lanzo, from names built on the element land, "land, territory". Once the name reached Old French, it converged with lance, the weapon, from Latin lancea — and that reading has traveled alongside it ever since. Separately, Lance has long served as the everyday short form of Lancelot, whose own origin is tangled in the same French material.
How the name formed
- Lanzo
- LanceOld French
- Lancelot
- Lance
Related forms: Lancelot · Lancillotto · Lanzarote · Lanzo
Pronouncing Lance
LANSS
One syllable, rhyming with "chance" in American English. In southern England the vowel lengthens to LAHNSS, which is the only real variation you will meet.
Nicknames for Lance
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
- 1899
- Most boys named
- 19713,175 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #76reached in 1970
- Change vs 2022
- −12.8%279 in 2025, from 320
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.
Lance in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lancelot in French — related form
- Lancillotto in Italian — related form
- Lanzarote in Spanish — related form
- Lanzo in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Lances among us
people named Lance are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,122 born in 2025 was named Lance
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 Bob test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lance's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bob climbed just as high around 1934, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bob's path sketches the road Lance is walking now.
Lance 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 Lance is headed
Lance should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Lance beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lance in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, five letters, spelled the way it sounds — rarely misheard on the phone or misspelled on a form.
- On the US charts continuously for well over a century, so it reads as familiar rather than invented.
- The English word "lance" is already known to every reader, which makes the name instantly recognizable even to people who have never met one.
- Short enough to sit comfortably beside long surnames and multi-syllable middle names.
- Most Lances in the US today are middle-aged, so adults are likely to place the name with their own generation before they place it with a child. A boy given it now would very likely be the only one in his school.
- The name is also a common noun and a verb — a weapon, and what a doctor does to a boil. Children discover both eventually, usually to no lasting harm.
- Lance Corporal is a real military rank, which some families like and others find distracting.
- At one syllable it offers no built-in nickname, so whatever a Lance gets called at home will have to be invented rather than inherited.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Lance to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Lance
Masculine · #862 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lances are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 93,000 people named Lance are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lance in 2025?
- Lance ranks #862 among US boy names in 2025, with 279 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lance?
- About 1 in every 6,122 US boys born in 2025 was named Lance — 279 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lance with classmates?
- Lance will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lance
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Stanley#863 · Jesiah#864 · Conner#864 · Aslan#860 · Zev#864 · Eddie#860 · Rex#859 · Avyaan#858
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lance? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lance and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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