Prentis
A variant of Prentice, an English surname given name meaning "apprentice".
Name Census estimates that about 700 living Americans carry the first name Prentis. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Prentis today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Prentis births was 1942 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Prentis. 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
700
~ 1 in 489,649 Americans
Peak year
1942
27 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2021 SSA rank
#13,593
Tracked since 1904
Census
Prentis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 549 people with the first name Prentis, which placed it at #19,324 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
#19,324
National first-name rank
People counted
549
549 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
65.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Prentis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Prentis is Black at 65.6%. The next largest groups are White (27.1%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Prentis 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 Prentis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American65.6% · 360
- White27.1% · 149
- Two or more races3.8% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 8
Popularity
Prentis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Prentis from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 195 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Prentis 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 Prentis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Prentis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Mississippi, Louisiana, Michigan recorded the most babies named Prentis, while Alabama, Michigan, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Prentis
The name Prentis is an English variant of the word "prentice," which means an apprentice or learner. It is derived from the Old French "aprentiz," which in turn comes from the Latin "apprendere," meaning "to learn." The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the late 16th century in England.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Prentis Browne, an English playwright and poet who lived from around 1585 to 1633. His works included the play "The Shepherd's Pipe" and several poetry collections.
In the 17th century, Prentis Sargent was a prominent figure in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Born in England in 1601, he emigrated to America and became a successful merchant and landowner in the town of Malden.
During the American Revolutionary War, Prentis Mellen served as a captain in the Continental Army. He fought in several major battles, including the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775.
In the 19th century, Prentis Ingraham was an American author and naval officer. Born in 1805, he wrote several popular adventure novels, including "The Marquis of Carabas" and "The Quadroone."
Another notable bearer of the name was Prentis Hancock, a prominent businessman and philanthropist from West Virginia. Born in 1857, he made his fortune in the coal and railroad industries and donated generously to educational and charitable causes.
While the name Prentis is not extremely common, it has persisted throughout history, often associated with individuals who made significant contributions in various fields, such as literature, military service, and business.
People
Prentis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Prentis as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Prentis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Prentis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 700 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Prentis 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 489,649 US residents.
Is Prentis a common name?
We classify Prentis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,260 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Prentis most popular?
The single biggest year for Prentis was 1942, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Prentis is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Prentis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 549 people with the name Prentis, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,324 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 Prentis 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 Prentis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Prentis leans strongly male. 526 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 25 female bearers (4.5%). 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 Prentis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Prentis is Black at 65.6%. The next largest groups are White (27.1%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Prentis most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Prentis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.6% (360 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 Prentis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Prentis a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Prentis 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 Prentis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Prentis 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 Prentis 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 share the name Prentis?
You can see how many people share the name Prentis on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.