Pace
Masculine · “Easter”
Pace is given to both — 917 boys and 64 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Pace looks like the English word and is more likely to be the older thing behind it: a medieval name for a child born at Easter. The two readings share a spelling and nothing else.
How old is the name Pace?
Pace first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Pace is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Pace are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pace most popular?
Pace peaked in 2024, reaching #2559 nationally. Today it ranks #3240, 681 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Where it comes from
From pascha to Pace
The story of Pace
Medieval England named children for the day they arrived — Noel at Christmas, Pentecost, Pace at Easter — and the practice left a small group of surnames behind. Pace is one of them, common in the west of England and, quite separately, in Italy, where Pace is the ordinary word for peace and became a surname on that reading. Its modern use as a first name is recent and American and draws chiefly on the English word.
Meaningscholars disagree
Easter, or a step
The surname Pace comes from Middle English Pasche, Easter, from Latin pascha and ultimately the Hebrew name of Passover; children born at the feast were given the name. Separately the English noun pace, a step, comes from Latin passus and is a different word entirely.
How the name formed
- pascha
- Pasche
- Pace
Related forms: Pace · Pascal · Pâques
Pronouncing Pace
PAYSS
One syllable, rhyming with face. Italian says PAH-cheh, which shares nothing with it.
Nicknames for Pace
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
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 202452 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2559reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −30.8%36 in 2025, from 52
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.
Pace in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pace in Italian — related form
- Pascal in English — related form
- Pâques in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Florida.
Paces among us
people named Pace are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 47,447 born in 2025 was named Pace
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 Donovon test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Pace's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Donovon climbed just as high around 1999, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Donovon's path sketches the road Pace is walking now.
Pace 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 Pace is headed
Pace looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 22% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Pace beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Pace 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 short and clear as a name can be.
- A genuine medieval origin sits behind it, which the modern word-reading conceals.
- It is read correctly by every English speaker on first sight.
- It is an ordinary English noun, and jokes about speed will follow him.
- The Easter origin is invisible to almost everyone, so the name reads as a word-name.
- It is very short and gives almost no room for a nickname.
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What they receive
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Pace
Masculine · #3240 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Paces are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Pace are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pace in 2025?
- Pace ranks #3240 among US boy names in 2025, with 36 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Pace?
- About 1 in every 47,447 US boys born in 2025 was named Pace — 36 in all.
- Will my child share the name Pace with classmates?
- Pace will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Pace
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eugenio#3240 · Stoney#3240 · Dany#3240 · Rasheed#3240 · Abdirahman#3240 · Mykah#3240 · Edric#3240 · Lowell#3240
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pace? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pace and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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