Pryce
A masculine name derived from the Brythonic word meaning "precious" or "costly".
Name Census estimates that about 1,266 living Americans carry the first name Pryce. It is a predominantly male name (96.1% of registrations). The average person named Pryce today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pryce births was 2020 (78 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pryce. 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 Pryce with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Pryce is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 270,738 Americans
Peak year
2020
78 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,730
Tracked since 1931
Census
Pryce in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 987 people with the first name Pryce, which placed it at #12,562 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
#12,562
National first-name rank
People counted
987
987 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pryce
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pryce is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Black (26.7%) and Two or More Races (8.1%). 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 Pryce 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 Pryce at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.4% · 567
- Black or African American26.7% · 264
- Two or more races8.1% · 80
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 50
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Pryce
Pryce leans heavily male at 96.1% of total registrations, but 50 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Pryce as a male name
- Ranked #2,730 in 2024
- 48 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (73 births)
Pryce as a female name
- Ranked #17,029 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2013 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pryce leans strongly male. 902 people counted with this name were male (92.1%), compared with 77 female bearers (7.9%).
Popularity
Pryce: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pryce from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 547 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Pryce remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pryce 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 Pryce during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pryces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, California recorded the most babies named Pryce, while Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pryce
The name Pryce is of Welsh origin and is derived from the Welsh word "ap Rhys," meaning "son of Rhys." The name Rhys itself is a variant of the name Rhice, which means "ardor" or "enthusiasm." The name Pryce is believed to have originated in the medieval period, around the 12th or 13th century, in Wales.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Pryce can be found in the Welsh Chronicles, where it is mentioned in reference to a Welsh prince named Pryce ap Rhys, who lived in the 13th century. The name also appears in various historical records and documents from Wales during the Middle Ages.
In terms of historical figures with the name Pryce, one notable individual was Sir John Pryce, a Welsh soldier and diplomat who lived from 1516 to 1599. He served as a soldier under Henry VIII and later became a member of Parliament. Another notable person with the name Pryce was Sir Edmund Pryce, a Welsh judge and politician who lived from 1541 to 1628. He served as a justice of the King's Bench and was also a member of Parliament.
In the 17th century, there was a Welsh clergyman named Samuel Pryce, who lived from 1628 to 1704. He was a Puritan minister and author, known for his writings on religious subjects. Another notable figure from this period was Thomas Pryce, a Welsh mathematician and astronomer who lived from 1638 to 1706. He made significant contributions to the field of mathematics and published several works on astronomy.
Moving into the 18th century, one notable person with the name Pryce was William Pryce, a Welsh naturalist and physician who lived from 1722 to 1798. He wrote extensively on the natural history of Wales and published several works on mineralogy and geology.
While the name Pryce is of Welsh origin, it has also been adopted and used in other parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries with strong historical ties to Wales or Britain. However, its roots and earliest recorded instances can be traced back to medieval Wales and the Welsh language.
People
Pryce + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pryce 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
Pryce: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pryce?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,266 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pryce 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 270,738 US residents.
Is Pryce a common name?
We classify Pryce as "Rare". It ranks above 91.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,284 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pryce most popular?
The single biggest year for Pryce was 2020, when 78 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pryce is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pryce in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 987 people with the name Pryce, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,562 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 Pryce 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 Pryce?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Pryce leans strongly male. 902 people counted with this name were male (92.1%), compared with 77 female bearers (7.9%). 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 Pryce?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pryce is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Black (26.7%) and Two or More Races (8.1%). 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 Pryce most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pryce in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.4% (567 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 Pryce in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pryce a male name?
Yes, 96.1% of people registered as Pryce 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 Pryce still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pryce 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 Pryce 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 named Pryce?
Find out how many people share the name Pryce on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.