Praise
A feminine given name derived from the English word for expressing gratitude.
Name Census estimates that about 1,226 living Americans carry the first name Praise. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Praise today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Praise births was 2019 (79 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Praise. 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 Praise with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Praise is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 279,571 Americans
Peak year
2019
79 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,858
Tracked since 1990
Census
Praise in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,199 people with the first name Praise, which placed it at #10,911 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
#10,911
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,199 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
77.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Praise
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Praise is Black at 77.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (9.7%) and White (5.5%). 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 Praise 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 Praise at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American77.6% · 930
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.7% · 116
- White5.5% · 66
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 41
- Two or more races3.2% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Praise
Praise is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,238 total registrations, 370 (29.9%) were male and 868 (70.1%) were female.
Praise as a male name
- Ranked #4,512 in 2024
- 23 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (27 births)
Praise as a female name
- Ranked #3,858 in 2024
- 39 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (55 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Praise on both sides of the split. Of the 1,198 people counted with this name, 397 were male (33.1%) and 801 were female (66.9%).
Popularity
Praise: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Praise from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 586 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Praise remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Praise 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 Praise during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Praises live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Texas, Maryland, New York recorded the most babies named Praise, while Massachusetts, New Jersey, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Praise
The name Praise has its origins in the English language, derived from the verb "to praise," which means to express admiration or approval. This name became popular during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries, when English Puritans embraced virtue names that reflected their religious beliefs and values.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Praise can be found in the Puritan religious text "The Spiritual Navigation" published in 1615. This work by John Everard includes a character named Praise-God Barebones, highlighting the Puritans' penchant for using such names to honor their faith.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Praise. One prominent example is Praise-God Trant, an English Puritan minister who lived from 1619 to 1669. He served as a chaplain in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War and was known for his fervent religious beliefs.
Another individual with this name was Praise-God Barebone, a prominent English Puritan who lived from 1598 to 1679. He was a member of the Barebone's Parliament, also known as the Nominated Parliament, which ruled England for a brief period in 1653 during the Interregnum between the reigns of Charles I and Charles II.
In the United States, one notable figure with the name Praise was Praise Lewis, an African American abolitionist and writer who lived from 1825 to 1892. He was a former slave who became a prominent advocate for the abolition of slavery and the rights of African Americans.
Another individual with this name was Praise Deverell, an English soldier and politician who lived from 1658 to 1739. He served as a Member of Parliament and was involved in various military campaigns during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
While the name Praise was more prevalent in earlier centuries, particularly among Puritan communities, it has become less common in modern times. However, its historical significance as a virtue name reflecting religious devotion and admiration remains an integral part of its legacy.
People
Praise + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Praise 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
Praise: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Praise?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,226 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Praise 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 279,571 US residents.
Is Praise a common name?
We classify Praise as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,238 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Praise most popular?
The single biggest year for Praise was 2019, when 79 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Praise is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Praise in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,199 people with the name Praise, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,911 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 Praise 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 Praise?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Praise on both sides of the split. Of the 1,198 people counted with this name, 397 were male (33.1%) and 801 were female (66.9%). 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 Praise?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Praise is Black at 77.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (9.7%) and White (5.5%). 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 Praise most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Praise in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.6% (930 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 Praise in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Praise a female name?
Yes, 70.1% of people registered as Praise 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 Praise still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Praise 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 Praise 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 named Praise?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.