Mace
A weapon consisting of a heavy staff with a spiked metal head.
Name Census estimates that about 1,590 living Americans carry the first name Mace. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mace today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mace births was 2016 (65 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mace. 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 Mace with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 215,569 Americans
Peak year
2016
65 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,851
Tracked since 1880
Census
Mace in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,375 people with the first name Mace, which placed it at #9,894 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
#9,894
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,375 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mace
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mace is White at 71.1%. The next largest groups are Black (10.0%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Mace 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 Mace at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.1% · 977
- Black or African American10.0% · 137
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 128
- Two or more races6.1% · 84
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 12
Popularity
Mace: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mace from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 532 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mace remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mace 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 Mace during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Mace, while Oklahoma, Ohio, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mace
The name Mace originates from the Old French word "mace", which referred to a heavy club or mace used as a weapon. The name likely arose as a nickname or surname for someone who wielded a mace, or perhaps someone of a strong or formidable nature.
The earliest recorded use of the name Mace dates back to the 13th century in England. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Sir Mace de Lohoreng, a Norman knight who lived during the reign of King John in the early 1200s.
In the 14th century, the name Mace appeared in the famous literary work "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer. In the prologue, Chaucer mentions a character named Mace, described as a "riche gnof" or a wealthy miser.
During the Renaissance period, a notable bearer of the name was Mace Andrewes (1542-1628), an English clergyman and scholar who served as the Bishop of Winchester and was known for his scholarly works on theology and the Bible.
Another prominent figure with the name Mace was Mace Moulton (1614-1670), an English mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and the theory of tides.
In the 19th century, Mace Greenleaf (1834-1903) was an American civil engineer and soldier who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and later became a prominent figure in the construction of railroads and bridges.
While the name Mace has been relatively uncommon throughout history, it has been borne by several notable individuals across various fields, including literature, religion, science, and military service. The name's origins as a nickname or surname related to strength and formidability have given it a unique and distinctive character.
People
Mace + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mace as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mace: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mace?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,590 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mace 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 215,569 US residents.
Is Mace a common name?
We classify Mace as "Rare". It ranks above 92.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,923 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mace most popular?
The single biggest year for Mace was 2016, when 65 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mace is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mace in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,375 people with the name Mace, or 0.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,894 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 Mace 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 Mace?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mace leans strongly male. 1,284 people counted with this name were male (93.8%), compared with 85 female bearers (6.2%). 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 Mace?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mace is White at 71.1%. The next largest groups are Black (10.0%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Mace most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mace in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.1% (977 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 Mace in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mace a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mace 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 Mace still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mace 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 Mace 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 called Mace?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.