Tracey
Masculine · “place of Thracius”
Tracey is given to both — 8,688 boys and 86,515 girls since 1880. See Tracey as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Tracey for a son is the older use. The surname came from a Norman village, entered English given-name use for boys first, and turned feminine only in the middle of the twentieth century.
How old is the name Tracey?
Tracey first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Tracey alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 7,500 people named Tracey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tracey most popular?
Tracey peaked in 1967, reaching #318 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 10,377 places below that high. See the whole 1967 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Thracius to Tracey
The story of Tracey
De Tracy families came to England with the Normans, and one of them was among the knights who killed Thomas Becket. The surname became a given name for boys in the nineteenth century. From the 1940s American families used it for girls in far larger numbers, and the masculine use faded; Tracey for boys peaked around 1966.
Meaningscholars disagree
place of Thracius
From the Norman place names Tracy-sur-Mer and Tracy-Bocage, generally read as an estate belonging to a Gallo-Roman named Thracius — 'the Thracian'. A separate Irish route runs through Ó Treasaigh, from treasach, 'warlike'. Both feed the English surname.
How the name formed
- Thracius
- Tracy
- Tracey
Related forms: Tracy · Ó Treasaigh · Tracy
Pronouncing Tracey
TRAY-see
Two syllables, stress on the first. Tracey and Tracy are said identically.
Nicknames for Tracey
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 1966471 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #318reached in 1967
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%6 in 2025, 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.
Tracey in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tracy in English — spelling variant
- Ó Treasaigh in Irish — related form
- Tracy in French — related form
Traceys among us
people named Tracey are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Tracey
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 Houston test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tracey's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Houston climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Houston's path sketches the road Tracey is walking now.
Tracey 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
Tracey beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tracey in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two documented traditions stand behind it, one Norman and one Irish.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The Becket connection is a genuine and consequential piece of English history.
- In America the name now reads as overwhelmingly feminine.
- Tracy is the commoner spelling for both sexes.
- The masculine use is closely dated to the 1960s.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Tracey to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Tracey? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Tracey
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Traceys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,500 people named Tracey are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tracey in 2025?
- Tracey ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tracey?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Tracey — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tracey with classmates?
- Tracey will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tracey
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Buford#10695 · Toney#10695 · Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Nora#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tracey? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tracey and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle