Mourice
Of Germanic origin, meaning "dark-skinned" or "swarthy".
Name Census estimates that about 17 living Americans carry the first name Mourice. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mourice today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mourice births was 1974 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mourice. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Mourice. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
17
~ 1 in 20,162,020 Americans
Peak year
1974
8 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
1983 SSA rank
#6,968
Tracked since 1922
Census
Mourice in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 127 people with the first name Mourice, which placed it at #49,170 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#49,170
National first-name rank
People counted
127
127 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
52.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mourice
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mourice is Black at 52.0%. The next largest groups are White (37.8%) and Hispanic (6.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Mourice described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Mourice at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American52.0% · 66
- White37.8% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 8
- Two or more races3.9% · 5
Popularity
Mourice: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mourice from the 1920s through to the 1980s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 13 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Mourice remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mourice by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Mourice during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mourice
The given name Mourice originated from the Latin name Mauritius, which was derived from the word "Maurus", meaning a person from Mauritania, a region in northwestern Africa. The name gained popularity during the Roman Empire, particularly among those of Moorish or Berber descent.
The earliest recorded example of the name dates back to the 3rd century, when Saint Maurice was a Christian martyr and leader of the legendary Theban Legion. He was executed for refusing to worship pagan Roman gods, and his story became widely known throughout Christian Europe.
In the Middle Ages, the name Mourice was popularized by the cult of Saint Maurice, which spread across Europe. Several notable figures bore this name, including Maurice, Duke of Saxony (1696-1750), a German prince and military leader, and Maurice of Nassau (1567-1625), a Dutch prince and renowned military strategist during the Eighty Years' War.
Another notable figure was Maurice, Prince of Orange (1567-1625), a leading military commander during the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule. He is credited with establishing the Dutch Republic's military might and laying the foundations for its eventual independence.
In the 19th century, Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), a French composer and pianist, became one of the most influential figures in the development of impressionist music. His works, such as "Boléro" and "Daphnis et Chloé", are widely celebrated and performed worldwide.
Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) was an American writer and illustrator, best known for his children's book "Where the Wild Things Are". His imaginative and evocative illustrations captivated generations of young readers and earned him numerous accolades, including the Caldecott Medal.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Mourice, a name with a rich cultural and historical legacy spanning centuries and diverse regions.
People
Mourice + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mourice as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mourice: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mourice?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 17 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mourice going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 20,162,020 US residents.
Is Mourice a common name?
We classify Mourice as "Very Rare". It ranks above 37.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 28 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mourice most popular?
The single biggest year for Mourice was 1974, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mourice is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mourice in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 127 people with the name Mourice, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,170 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Mourice in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Mourice?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mourice leans strongly male. 126 people counted with this name were male (96.9%), compared with 4 female bearers (3.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Mourice?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mourice is Black at 52.0%. The next largest groups are White (37.8%) and Hispanic (6.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Mourice most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Mourice in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.0% (66 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Mourice in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mourice a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mourice in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Mourice still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mourice in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Mourice can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Mourice?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.