Terrence
Masculine
Terrence is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 72,412 boys against 527 girls since 1880. See Terrence as a girl name
Terrence is the English form of Terentius, the Roman family name of the playwright Terence. It is two firm syllables with an easy short form, Terry. Its best-known modern bearer is the filmmaker Terrence Malick, whose The Tree of Life won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
How old is the name Terrence?
Terrence first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Terrence alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 59,000 people named Terrence are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Terrence most popular?
Terrence peaked in 1950, reaching #176 nationally. Today it ranks #1585, 1,409 places below that high. See the whole 1950 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Terentius (Roman family name) to Terrence
The story of Terrence
Terentius was the name of a Roman clan, and the playwright Publius Terentius Afer, who came to Rome from North Africa and wrote six comedies in the second century BC, carried it into the reading of every later century. English made it Terence, and Terrence, with a second r, grew up beside it. Terrence Malick studied philosophy at Harvard and Oxford before making Badlands and Days of Heaven, and his The Tree of Life won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2011.
Meaning
from the Roman family name Terentius
The descent from Terentius is clear. What Terentius itself meant is not established; the proposals that circulate are guesses, and no Roman source settles them.
How the name formed
- TerentiusRoman family name
- TerenceEnglish
- Terrence
Related forms: Terentius · Terenzio · Terencio · Térence
Pronouncing Terrence
TER-ens
Two syllables, stress on the first. Terence and Terrance are said the same way.
Nicknames for Terrence
Limited
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
- 1886
- Most boys named
- 19551,497 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #176reached in 1950
- Change vs 2022
- −29.1%107 in 2025, from 151
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.
Terrence in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Terentius in Latin — related form
- Terenzio in Italian — related form
- Terencio in Spanish — related form
- Térence in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, California, Texas.
Terrences among us
people named Terrence are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 15,963 born in 2025 was named Terrence
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Terrence
- #1585
- Terrence on the 2025 chart
- #774
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Terrence went to 107 boys in 2025, but Terence is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 154, which makes it the 774th most-given boys’ name of the year — 811 places above the chart.
- Terrence107
- Terence47
About 1 boy in 11,091 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 15,963 for Terrence itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kermit test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Terrence's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kermit climbed just as high around 1909, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kermit's path sketches the road Terrence is walking now.
Terrence 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 Terrence is headed
Terrence is easing off slowly — about 18% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Terrence beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Terrence in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A classical name with a clear line back to Rome.
- Terry, its short form, is already familiar as a name of its own.
- Known across generations without being common among children today.
- Terrence, Terence and Terrance are all in use, so the name will be spelled out and sometimes misspelled.
- Terry is also a girls' name, which some families like and others do not.
- A very few girls are recorded with this spelling; for them it will be read as a boy's name on most forms.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Terrence
Masculine · #1585 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Terrences are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 59,000 people named Terrence are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Terrence?
- Terrence is the most-used spelling in US records — 107 of the 154 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Terence.
- How popular is the name Terrence in 2025?
- Terrence ranks #1585 among US boy names in 2025, with 107 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Terrence?
- About 1 in every 15,963 US boys born in 2025 was named Terrence — 107 in all.
- Will my child share the name Terrence with classmates?
- Terrence will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Terrence
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zohan#1585 · Delijah#1585 · Sulaiman#1585 · Nisaiah#1585 · Karl#1585 · Said#1585 · Chester#1585 · Amazi#1585
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Terrence? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Terrence and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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