Horace
Horace was given to 14 boys in 2025, #6,241 among boys’ names; 54,356 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 14,400 Americans named Horace and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (27% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 54 and 77.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Horace by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Horace mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Horace is “a male given name from Latin.”
From Latin Horatius, a Roman family name of obscure origin, possibly from Etruscan. Doublet of Horatio.
/ˈhɔɹəs/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Horace?
#6,241 among boys’ names, 2025
Horace fell from #4,337 in 2015 to #6,241 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 12.0 to 8.2 per million.
1,313 babies in 1921, the peak
Horace peaked in 1921, when 1,313 boys were given it, #129 among boys’ names. The 14 births of 2025 are 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 14 | #6,241 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 18 | #5,303 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 18 | #5,319 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 22 | #4,607 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 17 | #5,414 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 18 | #5,107 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 22 | #4,531 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 20 | #4,808 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 28 | #3,817 | 0.02 |
| 2016 | 23 | #4,381 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 23 | #4,337 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 40 | #2,903 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 17 | #5,252 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 26 | #3,935 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 35 | #3,196 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 28 | #3,747 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 21 | #4,641 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 28 | #3,765 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 27 | #3,824 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 30 | #3,465 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 35 | #2,971 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 48 | #2,356 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 38 | #2,636 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 38 | #2,569 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 59 | #1,874 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 60 | #1,802 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 46 | #2,076 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 50 | #1,939 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 47 | #1,936 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 61 | #1,602 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 70 | #1,415 | 0.04 |
| 1994 | 81 | #1,294 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 90 | #1,177 | 0.05 |
| 1992 | 91 | #1,155 | 0.05 |
| 1991 | 112 | #1,012 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 105 | #1,031 | 0.05 |
| 1989 | 114 | #953 | 0.06 |
| 1988 | 103 | #951 | 0.05 |
| 1987 | 83 | #1,047 | 0.04 |
| 1986 | 104 | #893 | 0.06 |
| 1985 | 99 | #912 | 0.05 |
| 1984 | 112 | #829 | 0.06 |
| 1983 | 115 | #814 | 0.06 |
| 1982 | 141 | #736 | 0.08 |
| 1981 | 125 | #782 | 0.07 |
| 1980 | 122 | #793 | 0.07 |
| 1979 | 155 | #687 | 0.09 |
| 1978 | 146 | #693 | 0.09 |
| 1977 | 158 | #673 | 0.10 |
| 1976 | 163 | #647 | 0.10 |
| 1975 | 146 | #682 | 0.09 |
| 1974 | 174 | #611 | 0.11 |
| 1973 | 174 | #599 | 0.11 |
| 1972 | 204 | #562 | 0.13 |
| 1971 | 255 | #511 | 0.14 |
| 1970 | 241 | #520 | 0.13 |
| 1969 | 226 | #520 | 0.13 |
| 1968 | 247 | #482 | 0.14 |
| 1967 | 273 | #457 | 0.16 |
| 1966 | 271 | #463 | 0.15 |
| 1965 | 306 | #442 | 0.16 |
| 1964 | 350 | #428 | 0.18 |
| 1963 | 320 | #444 | 0.16 |
| 1962 | 343 | #431 | 0.17 |
| 1961 | 383 | #404 | 0.18 |
| 1960 | 419 | #386 | 0.20 |
| 1959 | 453 | #368 | 0.21 |
| 1958 | 432 | #373 | 0.20 |
| 1957 | 546 | #330 | 0.25 |
| 1956 | 539 | #320 | 0.25 |
| 1955 | 548 | #311 | 0.27 |
| 1954 | 611 | #284 | 0.30 |
| 1953 | 654 | #272 | 0.33 |
| 1952 | 647 | #271 | 0.33 |
| 1951 | 602 | #276 | 0.32 |
| 1950 | 687 | #251 | 0.38 |
| 1949 | 685 | #246 | 0.39 |
| 1948 | 719 | #240 | 0.41 |
| 1947 | 741 | #237 | 0.41 |
| 1946 | 669 | #234 | 0.41 |
| 1945 | 598 | #225 | 0.44 |
| 1944 | 648 | #215 | 0.48 |
| 1943 | 684 | #213 | 0.48 |
| 1942 | 730 | #208 | 0.53 |
| 1941 | 741 | #193 | 0.60 |
| 1940 | 661 | #199 | 0.57 |
| 1939 | 711 | #188 | 0.64 |
| 1938 | 723 | #188 | 0.65 |
| 1937 | 745 | #180 | 0.70 |
| 1936 | 691 | #188 | 0.67 |
| 1935 | 788 | #174 | 0.76 |
| 1934 | 816 | #170 | 0.79 |
| 1933 | 865 | #165 | 0.87 |
| 1932 | 883 | #168 | 0.85 |
| 1931 | 931 | #160 | 0.90 |
| 1930 | 973 | #158 | 0.89 |
| 1929 | 1,004 | #153 | 0.93 |
| 1928 | 1,098 | #147 | 1.0 |
| 1927 | 1,180 | #145 | 1.0 |
| 1926 | 1,107 | #149 | 1.0 |
| 1925 | 1,140 | #145 | 1.0 |
| 1924 | 1,166 | #143 | 1.0 |
| 1923 | 1,242 | #134 | 1.1 |
| 1922 | 1,251 | #132 | 1.1 |
| 1921 | 1,313 | #129 | 1.2 |
| 1920 | 1,276 | #128 | 1.2 |
| 1919 | 1,215 | #127 | 1.2 |
| 1918 | 1,199 | #132 | 1.2 |
| 1917 | 1,182 | #125 | 1.3 |
| 1916 | 1,106 | #126 | 1.2 |
| 1915 | 1,114 | #122 | 1.3 |
| 1914 | 840 | #125 | 1.3 |
| 1913 | 657 | #123 | 1.3 |
| 1912 | 615 | #119 | 1.4 |
| 1911 | 300 | #123 | 1.3 |
| 1910 | 261 | #123 | 1.3 |
| 1909 | 252 | #109 | 1.5 |
| 1908 | 235 | #107 | 1.5 |
| 1907 | 223 | #108 | 1.5 |
| 1906 | 202 | #106 | 1.5 |
| 1905 | 212 | #101 | 1.6 |
| 1904 | 205 | #102 | 1.6 |
| 1903 | 175 | #111 | 1.5 |
| 1902 | 199 | #100 | 1.6 |
| 1901 | 178 | #96 | 1.7 |
| 1900 | 244 | #97 | 1.6 |
| 1899 | 169 | #105 | 1.6 |
| 1898 | 189 | #101 | 1.5 |
| 1897 | 160 | #107 | 1.4 |
| 1896 | 204 | #95 | 1.7 |
| 1895 | 211 | #90 | 1.8 |
| 1894 | 196 | #97 | 1.7 |
| 1893 | 171 | #104 | 1.5 |
| 1892 | 187 | #100 | 1.5 |
| 1891 | 165 | #97 | 1.6 |
| 1890 | 162 | #103 | 1.5 |
| 1889 | 166 | #100 | 1.5 |
| 1888 | 165 | #103 | 1.4 |
| 1887 | 160 | #96 | 1.6 |
| 1886 | 156 | #99 | 1.4 |
| 1885 | 155 | #94 | 1.4 |
| 1884 | 154 | #98 | 1.3 |
| 1883 | 167 | #83 | 1.6 |
| 1882 | 176 | #88 | 1.5 |
| 1881 | 152 | #85 | 1.5 |
| 1880 | 199 | #79 | 1.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Horace a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Horace has been given almost only to boys: 202 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Horace: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Horace, and how old are they?
14,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 27% of the 54,356 Americans ever recorded as Horace. The median Horace alive today is 68 years old; half are between 54 and 77.
The 2020 Census counted 15,663 people named Horace (35 women and girls, 15,628 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 17,874 born in the U.S. The Census count is 12% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2,490 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 6,640 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,850 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,520 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 605 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 278 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Horace born?
The states with the most babies named Horace are Georgia, Texas and North Carolina, with 32% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 5,765 | not ranked | 4.0× |
| Texas | 4,408 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| North Carolina | 4,034 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| Alabama | 3,641 | not ranked | 3.0× |
| South Carolina | 2,694 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| Tennessee | 2,507 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Florida | 2,404 | not ranked | 2.8× |
| Louisiana | 2,251 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| Virginia | 2,235 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,913 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Horace is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Horace is most over-represented in Georgia: since 1910 it was given 4.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Horace with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 59,028 babies since 1880, Horace is the most given (92% of them). In 2025 it was given to 14 of their 45 babies (31%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Horace
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Horace and names like it
- Compare Horace and HoracioBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sHorace peaked in 1921.
- Georgia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Horace since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Horace: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Horace.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Horace alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with HMost given first.