Prentiss
One of English origin, derived from a place name meaning "beside the priest's estate".
Name Census estimates that about 1,765 living Americans carry the first name Prentiss. It is a predominantly male name (97.7% of registrations). The average person named Prentiss today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Prentiss births was 1951 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Prentiss. 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
- • Although Prentiss is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 65 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 194,195 Americans
Peak year
1951
50 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,620
Tracked since 1887
Census
Prentiss in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,511 people with the first name Prentiss, which placed it at #9,273 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
#9,273
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,511 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Prentiss
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Prentiss is Black at 56.8%. The next largest groups are White (37.1%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Prentiss 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 Prentiss at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.8% · 858
- White37.1% · 560
- Two or more races3.2% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Prentiss
Prentiss leans heavily male at 97.7% of total registrations, but 65 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Prentiss as a male name
- Ranked #10,620 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1943 (47 births)
Prentiss as a female name
- Ranked #17,553 in 2018
- 5 female births in 2018
- Peak: 2012 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Prentiss leans strongly male. 1,364 people counted with this name were male (90.0%), compared with 152 female bearers (10.0%).
Popularity
Prentiss: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Prentiss 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 350 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
Prentiss 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 Prentiss during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Prentiss' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Mississippi, Louisiana, Illinois recorded the most babies named Prentiss, while Texas, Florida, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 92 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Prentiss
The name Prentiss has its origins in Old English, derived from the words "prentis" or "prentice," meaning an apprentice or someone learning a trade or skill under a master. This name emerged during the Middle Ages, around the 12th to 15th centuries, and was primarily used in England and surrounding regions.
Prentiss was a common occupational surname during this period, given to individuals who were apprentices in various crafts or trades. Over time, it evolved into a given name, particularly for males. The earliest recorded instances of the name Prentiss can be found in historical records from medieval England, such as parish registers and census documents.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Prentiss was Sir Prentiss Browne, an English knight who lived in the late 14th century and served under King Edward III during the Hundred Years' War. Another notable figure was Prentiss Ingraham, an American author and newspaper editor who lived from 1843 to 1904 and wrote several popular dime novels and adventure stories.
In the 19th century, Prentiss Mellen (1764-1840) was an American politician and jurist who served as the fifth Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Prentiss Ingraham (1843-1904), mentioned earlier, was a prolific American author known for his dime novels and adventure stories during the same period.
Moving into the 20th century, Prentiss Taylor (1907-1991) was an American architect and urban planner who played a significant role in the development of Baltimore's Inner Harbor area. Prentiss Moore (1919-2007) was an American chemist and researcher who made important contributions to the understanding of the structure and properties of organic compounds.
While the name Prentiss has maintained a consistent presence throughout history, it has never been among the most popular given names. However, its unique origins and connection to the medieval apprenticeship system have made it a distinctive and intriguing choice for parents seeking a name with historical significance and a touch of tradition.
People
Prentiss + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Prentiss 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
Prentiss: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Prentiss?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,765 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Prentiss 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 194,195 US residents.
Is Prentiss a common name?
We classify Prentiss as "Rare". It ranks above 93.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,789 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Prentiss most popular?
The single biggest year for Prentiss was 1951, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Prentiss is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Prentiss in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,511 people with the name Prentiss, or 0.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,273 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 Prentiss 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 Prentiss?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Prentiss leans strongly male. 1,364 people counted with this name were male (90.0%), compared with 152 female bearers (10.0%). 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 Prentiss?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Prentiss is Black at 56.8%. The next largest groups are White (37.1%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Prentiss most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Prentiss in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.8% (858 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 Prentiss in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Prentiss a male name?
Yes, 97.7% of people registered as Prentiss 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 Prentiss still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Prentiss 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 Prentiss 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 Prentiss?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.