Quince
A masculine name derived from the quince fruit, alluding to its golden color.
Name Census estimates that about 375 living Americans carry the first name Quince. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Quince today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Quince births was 1964 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Quince. 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.
People living today
375
~ 1 in 914,012 Americans
Peak year
1964
14 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,149
Tracked since 1884
Census
Quince in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 455 people with the first name Quince, which placed it at #22,044 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
#22,044
National first-name rank
People counted
455
455 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
47.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Quince
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quince is Black at 47.9%. The next largest groups are White (37.1%) and Two or More Races (5.7%). 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 Quince 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 Quince at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American47.9% · 218
- White37.1% · 169
- Two or more races5.7% · 26
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 4
Popularity
Quince: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Quince from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 67 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Quince remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Quince 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 Quince 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 Quince
The given name Quince originates from the Latin word 'cotoneum', which refers to the quince fruit. The name likely emerged in regions of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, where quince trees were prevalent and the fruit was highly valued for its culinary and medicinal properties.
In ancient Roman times, the quince was a symbol of fertility and was often associated with the goddess Venus. The Roman poet Ovid mentioned the quince in his work Metamorphoses, describing it as the "golden apple of the Hesperides" in Greek mythology.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Quince was a 12th-century French troubadour, Quince de Béthune. He was a prominent figure in the literary and musical circles of his time and composed numerous lyrical poems and songs.
In the 16th century, Quince Fletcher, an English clergyman and academic, served as the president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, from 1592 to 1618. He was known for his contributions to the field of theology and his advocacy for educational reforms.
During the 17th century, Quince Westwood (1592-1666) was a notable English architect and surveyor. He was involved in several prominent construction projects, including the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral in London after the Great Fire of 1666.
In the literary realm, Quince Novello (1781-1851) was an Italian composer and conductor who made significant contributions to the development of opera in the early 19th century. Some of his most celebrated works include "La Gazza Ladra" and "Semiramide".
Another figure of note was Quince Everard (1870-1949), a British botanist and explorer. He was renowned for his expeditions to remote regions of South America, where he discovered and catalogued numerous new plant species, including several varieties of the quince fruit.
People
Quince + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Quince as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Q
Other first names starting with Q with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Quince: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Quince?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 375 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Quince 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 914,012 US residents.
Is Quince a common name?
We classify Quince as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 576 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Quince most popular?
The single biggest year for Quince was 1964, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Quince is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Quince in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 455 people with the name Quince, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,044 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 Quince 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 Quince?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Quince leans strongly male. 394 people counted with this name were male (88.5%), compared with 51 female bearers (11.5%). 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 Quince?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quince is Black at 47.9%. The next largest groups are White (37.1%) and Two or More Races (5.7%). 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 Quince most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Quince in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.9% (218 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 Quince in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Quince a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Quince 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 Quince still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Quince 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 Quince 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 have Quince as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Quince on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.