Ponce
A Spanish masculine name meaning "lion-like".
Name Census estimates that about 90 living Americans carry the first name Ponce. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ponce today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ponce births was 1949 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ponce. 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 Ponce. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
90
~ 1 in 3,808,382 Americans
Peak year
1949
8 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
1986 SSA rank
#7,536
Tracked since 1916
Census
Ponce in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 293 people with the first name Ponce, which placed it at #29,959 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
#29,959
National first-name rank
People counted
293
293 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
42.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ponce
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ponce is Hispanic at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Black (38.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.6%). 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 Ponce 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 Ponce at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino42.7% · 125
- Black or African American38.2% · 112
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.6% · 28
- White6.8% · 20
- Two or more races2.7% · 8
Popularity
Ponce: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ponce from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 37 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ponce 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 Ponce 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 Ponce
The name Ponce is of Spanish origin, derived from the Latin name "Pontius." It is believed to have its roots in the Roman family name "Poncius" or "Pontius," which originated from the Latin word "pons," meaning "bridge." The name may have been given to individuals who lived near or were associated with bridges or bridge construction.
During the Middle Ages, the name Ponce gained popularity in Spain, particularly in the region of Aragon. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Ponce de Minerva, a 12th-century nobleman and military leader from Aragon. He played a significant role in the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors.
In the 13th century, Ponce de Cabrera was a prominent Spanish nobleman and military commander who served under King Alfonso X of Castile. He was instrumental in the conquest of Murcia and participated in various campaigns against the Moors.
Another notable figure with the name Ponce was Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish explorer and conquistador born in 1474. He is famous for his expeditions to the Americas, including the first recorded European exploration of Florida in 1513. Ponce de León was also the first governor of Puerto Rico.
In the 16th century, Ponce de Santillana was a Spanish nobleman, poet, and patron of the arts. He is considered one of the most important literary figures of the Spanish Renaissance and is credited with introducing Italian Renaissance poetry to Spain.
During the 17th century, Ponce de León y Espino was a Spanish military officer and governor of Florida. He played a crucial role in the defense of St. Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the continental United States, against British and Native American attacks.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Ponce. While its origins can be traced back to ancient Rome, the name gained prominence in Spain during the Middle Ages and was carried by many influential figures, particularly during the era of Spanish exploration and conquest.
People
Ponce + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ponce 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
Ponce: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ponce?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 90 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ponce 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 3,808,382 US residents.
Is Ponce a common name?
We classify Ponce as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 140 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ponce most popular?
The single biggest year for Ponce was 1949, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ponce is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ponce in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 293 people with the name Ponce, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,959 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 Ponce 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 Ponce?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ponce leans strongly male. 258 people counted with this name were male (86.9%), compared with 39 female bearers (13.1%). 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 Ponce?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ponce is Hispanic at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Black (38.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (9.6%). 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 Ponce most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Ponce in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.7% (125 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 Ponce in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ponce a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ponce 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 Ponce still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ponce 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 Ponce 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 Americans are named Ponce?
See how many people share the name Ponce on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.