Torrence
Masculine · “at the hillocks”
Torrence is given to both — 3,204 boys and 191 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Torrence sits between two names that have nothing to do with each other. Torrance is a Scottish place name from the Gaelic for a hillock; Terence is a Roman clan name carried by a Latin playwright born in Africa. American spelling has been quietly merging them for a century.
How old is the name Torrence?
Torrence first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Torrence alive today was born around 1985, making them about 40 years old. About 2,800 people named Torrence are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Torrence most popular?
Torrence peaked in 1973, reaching #885 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 5,561 places below that high. See the whole 1973 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From torran to Torrence
The story of Torrence
Terence entered English through the Roman playwright and through Irish usage, where it was used as an English stand-in for Toirdhealbhach, a Gaelic name entirely unrelated to it. Torrance came separately from Scottish places near Glasgow. Both reached America, both were spelled loosely, and by the mid-twentieth century the forms Terrence, Terrance, Torrence and Torrance were being used almost interchangeably in the same communities. Torrence's best year in United States records is 1973, at the height of that overlap, and no reference book can tell an individual bearer which of the two names he has.
Meaningscholars disagree
at the hillocks, or from the Roman name Terentius
The Scottish Torrance is from Gaelic torran, a small hill or mound, in the plural. The Latin Terentius is a Roman gens name of unknown meaning, sometimes connected to terere, to rub or thresh; it is the name of the playwright Terence and of several saints. This spelling can descend from either, and the vowel in the first syllable is the only thing distinguishing them on the page.
How the name formed
- torran
- Torrance
- Torrence
Related forms: Torrance · Terentius · Terrence
Pronouncing Torrence
TOR-ense
Two syllables with the stress on the first. Some families say tuh-RENSE with the weight at the end, which is the Terence pattern; both are heard for this spelling.
Nicknames for Torrence
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 197274 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #885reached in 1973
- Change vs 2023
- −40.9%13 in 2025, from 22
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.
Torrence in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Torrance in Scottish — spelling variant
- Terentius in Latin — related form
- Terrence in English — related form
Torrences among us
people named Torrence are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 born in 2025 was named Torrence
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 Lenwood test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Torrence's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lenwood climbed just as high around 1949, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lenwood's path sketches the road Torrence is walking now.
Torrence 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
Torrence beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Torrence in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two genuine name histories behind it, one Gaelic and one Roman.
- Terry is a completely established everyday form.
- Distinctive on paper while sounding entirely familiar.
- Terrence, Terrance, Torrance and Torrence all circulate and split the records.
- Two stress patterns compete for this spelling.
- It reads as a name of the 1960s and 1970s in American ears.
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What they receive
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Torrence
Masculine · #6446 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Torrences are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,800 people named Torrence are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Torrence in 2025?
- Torrence ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Torrence?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Torrence — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Torrence with classmates?
- Torrence will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Torrence
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Worth#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Torrence? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Torrence and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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