Terrence
A masculine name of Latin origin meaning "to till" or "to harvest".
Name Census estimates that about 60,687 living Americans carry the first name Terrence. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Terrence today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Terrence births was 1955 (1,508 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Terrence. 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 Terrence with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Terrence is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 527 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
61K
~ 1 in 5,648 Americans
Peak year
1955
1,508 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,524
Tracked since 1886
Census
Terrence in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 51,591 people with the first name Terrence, which placed it at #877 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
#877
National first-name rank
People counted
52K
51,591 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
17.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Terrence
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terrence is White at 46.9%. The next largest groups are Black (44.2%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Terrence 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 Terrence at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.9% · 24,206
- Black or African American44.2% · 22,806
- Two or more races3.6% · 1,882
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 1,201
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 1,107
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 389
Gender
Gender distribution for Terrence
Out of the 72,832 babies given the name Terrence since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Terrence as a male name
- Ranked #1,524 in 2024
- 116 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1955 (1,497 births)
Terrence as a female name
- Ranked #11,638 in 1992
- 7 female births in 1992
- Peak: 1978 (21 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Terrence appears almost entirely male. Of the 51,590 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Terrence: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Terrence from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 12,917 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Terrence 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 Terrence during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Terrences live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Illinois, New York, Ohio recorded the most babies named Terrence, while Utah, New Hampshire, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,365 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Terrence
The name Terrence derives from the Latin name Terentius, which was originally a Roman family name. It is believed to have originated from the Etruscan town of Tarquinii, located in what is now the region of Lazio, Italy. The name is thought to have come from the Etruscan word "tar(c)hna," meaning "to tarry" or "to delay."
Terrence gained widespread recognition in ancient Rome through the renowned playwright Publius Terentius Afer, commonly known as Terence. He was born around 195-185 BC in Carthage and brought to Rome as a slave, where he eventually gained his freedom and became one of the most celebrated comic dramatists of his time.
The name Terrence is also mentioned in the Bible. In the Book of Acts, chapter 23, verse 24, a Roman centurion named Claudius Lysias sends a letter to the governor Felix regarding the apostle Paul, using the Latin form "Terentius" to refer to himself.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Terrence in English literature is found in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales," written in the late 14th century. The character named Terrence appears in the "Nun's Priest's Tale."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Terrence. One prominent example is Terence Valen Trent, also known as Pope Callixtus III, who reigned as the Pope of the Catholic Church from 1455 to 1458. Another famous Terrence was Saint Terrence, a Roman martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
The name Terrence also gained recognition in the literary world through writers such as Terrence Rattigan (1911-1977), a British playwright known for his plays like "The Winslow Boy" and "The Browning Version." Additionally, the American playwright Terrence McNally (1938-2020) won numerous awards, including four Tony Awards, for his works like "Love! Valour! Compassion!" and "Master Class."
In the realm of science, Terrence Tao (born 1975) is an Australian-American mathematician who has made significant contributions to various fields, including harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, and combinatorics. He was awarded the prestigious Fields Medal in 2006.
These are just a few examples of the notable individuals who have carried the name Terrence throughout history, showcasing its enduring presence and significance across various cultures and disciplines.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Terrence
People
Terrence + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Terrence as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Terrence: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Terrence?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 60,687 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Terrence 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 5,648 US residents.
Is Terrence a common name?
We classify Terrence as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 72,832 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Terrence most popular?
The single biggest year for Terrence was 1955, when 1,508 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Terrence is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Terrence in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 51,591 people with the name Terrence, or 17.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #877 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 Terrence 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 Terrence?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Terrence appears almost entirely male. Of the 51,590 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Terrence?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terrence is White at 46.9%. The next largest groups are Black (44.2%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Terrence most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Terrence in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.9% (24,206 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 Terrence in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Terrence a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Terrence 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 Terrence still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Terrence 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 Terrence 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 common is the name Terrence?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.