Nance
Feminine
Nance is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 761 girls against 10 boys since 1880.
Nance is recorded for boys and girls alike. In English it reads as a clipped form of Nancy, and in Cornwall it is an ordinary word for a valley, sitting at the front of dozens of place names on the map.
How old is the name Nance?
Nance first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Nance alive today was born around 1947, making them about 78 years old. About 400 people named Nance are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nance most popular?
Nance peaked in 1932, reaching #1597 nationally. See the whole 1932 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Nance
Cornish place names are unusually transparent once a few words are known, and nans, a valley, is among the commonest. It sits at the front of Nancledra, Nanstallon, Nancekuke and a long list of others, usually followed by something describing the valley. The same layer supplies tre for a farmstead, pol for a pool and pen for a headland, which is the whole point of the old rhyme about knowing a Cornishman by his name. The language itself stopped being spoken as a first language a couple of centuries ago and has been revived since, but it never left the map, because place names outlive everything.
Meaningnot established
Not established
As a short form of Nancy it inherits that name's history, which runs back through Ann. As a Cornish word it means a valley. Which a given family had in mind is not recorded and the record holds the spelling for both sexes.
Pronouncing Nance
NANSS
One syllable, rhyming with dance in most American accents. There is nothing in it to get wrong.
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
- 1913
- Most girls named
- 194732 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1597reached in 1932
- Change vs 1970
- −28.6%5 in 1973, from 7
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.
Nances among us
people named Nance 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
Nance 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
- One syllable and five letters: short, clear and quick to write.
- It is recorded for boys and for girls, so it does not force a reading on anyone.
- It is genuinely rare without containing a difficult sound.
- It reads as a clipped form to most people, so formal settings will ask what it stands for.
- The spelling is recorded for a few boys, but nearly every child with it is a girl.
- It reads as a name of a much older generation in America.
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Nance
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Nances are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Nance are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nance in 2025?
- Nance is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Nance with classmates?
- Nance will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nancy#965 · Nicole#382 · Natalie#89 · Norma#2002 · Nora#20 · Naomi#47 · Nellie#533 · Nina#324
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nance? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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