Hortense
A feminine given name of French origin meaning "garden" or "gardener".
Name Census estimates that about 645 living Americans carry the first name Hortense. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hortense today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hortense births was 1919 (229 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hortense. 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
- • The typical person named Hortense is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Hortenses were born before 1957.
People living today
645
~ 1 in 531,402 Americans
Peak year
1919
229 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1976 SSA rank
#8,509
Tracked since 1880
Census
Hortense in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,436 people with the first name Hortense, which placed it at #9,601 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
#9,601
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,436 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
62.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hortense
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hortense is Black at 62.0%. The next largest groups are White (19.3%) and Hispanic (15.1%). 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 Hortense 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 Hortense at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American62.0% · 890
- White19.3% · 277
- Hispanic or Latino15.1% · 217
- Two or more races2.6% · 38
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Popularity
Hortense: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hortense from the 1880s through to the 1970s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,794 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hortense 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 Hortense during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hortenses live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. Texas, New York, Virginia recorded the most babies named Hortense, while Utah, Wisconsin, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 116 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hortense
The name Hortense is derived from the Latin word "hortus", meaning "garden". It originated in the Romance languages, particularly in French and Italian. The name became popular in France during the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods.
The earliest recorded use of the name Hortense dates back to the 6th century AD, when it was mentioned in the writings of Pope Gregory I. During the Middle Ages, the name was associated with the Carolingian dynasty and the Frankish nobility. One notable historical figure was Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter of Empress Josephine and stepdaughter of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was born in 1783 and married Louis Bonaparte, becoming the Queen of Holland.
In the 16th century, the name Hortense gained popularity among the French aristocracy. One famous bearer of the name was Hortense Mancini, Duchess of Mazarin, who was born in 1646 and was a prominent figure at the court of King Louis XIV of France. She was known for her beauty and intelligence, as well as her scandalous love affairs.
Another notable Hortense was Hortense de Polignac, born in 1776, who was a close friend and confidante of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. She was a member of the French nobility and fled France during the French Revolution.
In the 19th century, the name Hortense was popular among the upper classes in France and England. Hortense Eugénie Cécile Bonaparte, born in 1783, was the daughter of Empress Josephine and the stepdaughter of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was married to Louis Bonaparte and became the Queen of Holland.
Hortense Calisher, an American novelist and philosopher, was born in 1911 and is known for her works exploring the complexities of modern life. She received numerous literary awards, including the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and the Dos Passos Prize for Literature.
Throughout its history, the name Hortense has been associated with gardens, beauty, and nobility. While its popularity has waxed and waned over time, it remains a unique and elegant name with deep historical roots.
People
Hortense + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hortense as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hortense: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hortense?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 645 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hortense 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 531,402 US residents.
Is Hortense a common name?
We classify Hortense as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,313 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hortense most popular?
The single biggest year for Hortense was 1919, when 229 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hortense is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hortense in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,436 people with the name Hortense, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,601 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 Hortense 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 Hortense?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hortense appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,433 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Hortense?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hortense is Black at 62.0%. The next largest groups are White (19.3%) and Hispanic (15.1%). 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 Hortense most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Hortense in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.0% (890 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 Hortense in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hortense a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hortense 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 Hortense still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hortense 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 Hortense 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 Hortense?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.