Maurice
Feminine · “dark-skinned”
Maurice is given to boys far more often — 136,332 boys against 2,611 girls since 1880. See Maurice as a boy name
German artists have depicted this saint as a black man since the thirteenth century, and the sculpture in Magdeburg Cathedral is the earliest surviving European image of an African that is unmistakably a portrait rather than a type. He was an Egyptian officer, and the art took that seriously.
How old is the name Maurice?
Maurice first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Maurice alive today was born around 1936, making them about 89 years old. About 1,100 people named Maurice are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Maurice most popular?
Maurice peaked in 1915, reaching #831 nationally. See the whole 1915 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Maurus to Maurice
The story of Maurice
The legend says Maurice commanded a legion recruited in Egyptian Thebes, that the whole unit refused an order it considered unlawful, and that it was executed in the Alps for it — decimated repeatedly until nobody was left. Whatever happened, the cult was real and enormous across the Rhineland and Savoy, and from about the year twelve hundred German workshops began showing him as African, in armor, with great care taken over the face. The name spread across Europe with the cult, gave a Roman emperor, a Dutch royal house and a great many ordinary men their name, and reached America early.
Meaning
dark-skinned, Moorish
The Latin Mauritius derives from Maurus, the word for a North African. It is a name that describes where a man came from, and its most famous bearer came from exactly there.
How the name formed
- Maurus
- Mauritius
- Maurice
Related forms: Maurice · Maurizio · Mauricio · Moritz · Maurits
Pronouncing Maurice
muh-REESS
Two syllables with the weight at the back in America and France. British English front-weights it, MORR-iss, and the two are noticeably different.
Nicknames for Maurice
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
- 1898
- Most girls named
- 192764 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #831reached in 1915
- Change vs 1993
- 0.0%5 in 1995, from 5
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.
Maurice in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Maurice in French — same name
- Maurizio in Italian — same name
- Mauricio in Spanish — same name
- Moritz in German — same name
- Maurits in Dutch — same name
Maurices among us
people named Maurice are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Maurice sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It has a form in every western European language.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the first year they were kept.
- The saint behind it has an unusually well documented and unusually interesting artistic history.
- Mo works as a short form and asks nothing of anyone.
- American and British English stress it differently, which matters for travelers.
- Morris is the anglicized spelling of the same name and will be written for you.
- It is strongly associated with the first half of the twentieth century in America.
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What they receive
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Maurice
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Maurices are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Maurice are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Maurice in 2025?
- Maurice is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Maurice with classmates?
- Maurice will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Maurice? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Maurice and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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