Prentis
Masculine · “Apprentice”
Almost every occupational surname in English names a trade somebody did for life. Smith, Baker, Wright, Cooper, Fletcher: these are what a man was. Prentis is the exception. It names a stage, a temporary condition that everybody in it expected to leave, and it stuck to families anyway.
How old is the name Prentis?
Prentis first appears in US birth records in 1904 — 121 years ago. The typical Prentis alive today was born around 1950, making them about 75 years old. About 700 people named Prentis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Prentis most popular?
Prentis peaked in 1906, reaching #1111 nationally. See the whole 1906 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From apprentis to Prentis
The story of Prentis
An apprenticeship in England was a legal instrument, not an arrangement. The standard term was seven years, fixed by statute in the sixteenth century for most trades, and the indenture bound both sides: the master to feed, house and teach, the apprentice to serve, obey and not marry or trade on his own account. Breaking it was actionable. Seven years of a young man's life were signed away at fourteen, and the boy could not leave and the master could not simply dismiss him. That is why the word could become a fixed description of a person: for the better part of a decade it was what he was, publicly and legally, and long enough for a clerk writing a will or a tax roll to use it as his name.
Meaning
Apprentice
From the Old French for one who is learning, by way of the English word, with the first syllable worn away in ordinary speech. The word came into English in the fourteenth century and the surname follows shortly after, which means the families who carry it were identified by a young man's status at the moment the record happened to be made.
How the name formed
- apprentis
- Apprentice
- Prentice
- Prentis
Pronouncing Prentis
PREN-tiss
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The ending is written with an s here and with ce in the commoner spelling, and the two are said identically, since English c before an e is always an s.
Nicknames for Prentis
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
- 1904
- Most boys named
- 192523 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1111reached in 1906
- Change vs 2011
- −16.7%5 in 2021, from 6
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.
Prentiss among us
people named Prentis 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
Prentis 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
- Short, firm and easy to spell once heard, with a meaning that can be given in one word.
- It has a genuine and documentable English history rather than an invented one.
- The full spelling Prentice is available if a longer written form is ever wanted.
- It reads as a surname and will be entered in the wrong column on forms.
- Prentice and Prentiss are both commoner spellings and will be substituted.
- The meaning is a temporary status, which some people find an odd thing to be named for.
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Prentis
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Prentiss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Prentis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Prentis in 2025?
- Prentis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Prentis with classmates?
- Prentis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Paul#262 · Patrick#235 · Peter#187 · Philip#527 · Phillip#651 · Parker#102 · Preston#299 · Pedro#455
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Prentis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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