Patience
A feminine virtue name derived from the Latin "patientia" meaning "bearing suffering calmly".
Name Census estimates that about 11,119 living Americans carry the first name Patience. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Patience today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Patience births was 2006 (508 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Patience. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Patience with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 30,826 Americans
Peak year
2006
508 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2023 SSA rank
#1,330
Tracked since 1880
Census
Patience in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,868 people with the first name Patience, which placed it at #2,336 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
#2,336
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
10,868 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Patience
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Patience is White at 47.4%. The next largest groups are Black (39.5%) and Two or More Races (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 Patience 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 Patience at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.4% · 5,156
- Black or African American39.5% · 4,290
- Two or more races6.3% · 686
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 507
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 146
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 83
Gender
Gender distribution for Patience
Out of the 12,293 babies given the name Patience since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Patience as a male name
- Ranked #11,886 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2018 (8 births)
Patience as a female name
- Ranked #1,330 in 2024
- 172 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (508 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Patience appears almost entirely female. Of the 10,871 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Patience: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Patience from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 3,529 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Patience 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 Patience during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Patiences live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Patience, while Wyoming, North Dakota, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 190 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Patience
The name Patience is derived from the Latin word "patientia," which means endurance, forbearance, or perseverance. It came into use as a given name during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, reflecting the values of patience and perseverance in the face of adversity.
The earliest known use of the name Patience dates back to the late 16th century in England. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Patience Winthrop, born in 1572, the daughter of John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
In the 17th century, the name gained popularity among the Puritans in England and New England, who valued patience as a virtue and often gave their children names with moral or religious meanings. Patience Brewster, born in 1680 in Massachusetts, was a notable figure who became one of the first female printers in America.
The name Patience also appears in literary works, such as the character Patience Kerridge in Thomas Hardy's novel "The Woodlanders," published in 1887. This literary reference contributed to the continued use of the name in the 19th century.
Notable individuals named Patience throughout history include Patience Lovell Wright, born in 1725, an American sculptor and wax modeler considered one of the first professional sculptors in the American colonies. Patience Cleveland, born in 1756, was a notable figure in the American Revolutionary War and the wife of Benjamin Cleveland, a military leader.
Another prominent figure was Patience Meriton, born in 1782, an English diarist who wrote about her experiences as a servant in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, providing a unique insight into domestic life during that period.
In more recent times, Patience Cooper, born in 1905, was an American actress and dancer who appeared in numerous Broadway productions and Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s.
The name Patience continues to be used today, although it is less common than in previous centuries. Its enduring appeal lies in its representation of the virtue of patience and its connection to the historical and cultural values of perseverance and fortitude.
People
Patience + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Patience as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Patience: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Patience?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,119 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Patience 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 30,826 US residents.
Is Patience a common name?
We classify Patience as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,293 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Patience most popular?
The single biggest year for Patience was 2006, when 508 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Patience is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Patience in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,868 people with the name Patience, or 3.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,336 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 Patience 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 Patience?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Patience appears almost entirely female. Of the 10,871 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Patience?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Patience is White at 47.4%. The next largest groups are Black (39.5%) and Two or More Races (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 Patience most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Patience in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.4% (5,156 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 Patience in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Patience a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Patience in the SSA data are female. 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 Patience still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Patience 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 Patience 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 share the name Patience?
Want to know how many Americans are named Patience? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.