Solace
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning comfort or consolation.
Name Census estimates that about 386 living Americans carry the first name Solace. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 54.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Solace today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Solace births was 2023 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Solace. 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 Solace with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
386
~ 1 in 887,965 Americans
Peak year
2023
33 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,399
Tracked since 1999
Census
Solace in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 309 people with the first name Solace, which placed it at #28,877 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
#28,877
National first-name rank
People counted
309
309 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
36.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Solace
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Solace is White at 36.6%. The next largest groups are Black (33.0%) and Two or More Races (13.9%). 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 Solace 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 Solace at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White36.6% · 113
- Black or African American33.0% · 102
- Two or more races13.9% · 43
- Hispanic or Latino12.3% · 38
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Solace
Solace is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 389 total registrations, 179 (46.0%) were male and 210 (54.0%) were female.
Solace as a male name
- Ranked #6,399 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (19 births)
Solace as a female name
- Ranked #11,976 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Solace on both sides of the split. Of the 305 people counted with this name, 111 were male (36.4%) and 194 were female (63.6%).
Popularity
Solace: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Solace from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 191 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Solace remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Solace 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 Solace during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Solace
The name Solace finds its origins in the Late Latin word "solacium," which means comfort or consolation. It first emerged as a given name during the medieval period, around the 12th century, in parts of Europe such as England and France.
Solace was initially used as a symbolic name, representing the idea of finding solace or comfort in difficult times. It was often given to children born during periods of hardship or turmoil, as a reminder of the hope for better days ahead.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Solace was in the 13th century, when it appeared in the writings of the English monk and historian, Matthew Paris. He mentioned a woman named Solace who lived in the village of Dunstable.
In the 15th century, Solace gained some recognition as the name of a character in the medieval morality play, "The Castle of Perseverance." This allegorical play depicted the struggles of the human soul against temptation and sin.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Solace. One such person was Solace Soulier (1654-1730), a French Catholic nun who founded the Sisters of the Visitation in Grenoble, France.
Another individual of note was Solace Williams (1784-1862), an English artist and engraver who was known for his intricate landscapes and architectural etchings.
In the 19th century, Solace Frost (1836-1905) was an American poet and writer who published several collections of verse, including "Twilight Idylls" and "Poems of Home and Travel."
Solace Hartzog (1892-1978) was an American educator and civil rights activist who worked tirelessly to promote equal educational opportunities for African American students in the segregated South.
More recently, Solace Faramola (1928-2009) was a Nigerian playwright and novelist whose works explored themes of cultural identity and the struggles of post-colonial Africa.
While not a common name, Solace has endured throughout the centuries as a symbolic representation of comfort and hope, often given to those born during challenging times or circumstances.
People
Solace + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Solace as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Solace: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Solace?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 386 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Solace 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 887,965 US residents.
Is Solace a common name?
We classify Solace as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 389 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Solace most popular?
The single biggest year for Solace was 2023, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Solace is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Solace in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 309 people with the name Solace, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,877 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 Solace 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 Solace?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Solace on both sides of the split. Of the 305 people counted with this name, 111 were male (36.4%) and 194 were female (63.6%). 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 Solace?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Solace is White at 36.6%. The next largest groups are Black (33.0%) and Two or More Races (13.9%). 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 Solace most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Solace in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.6% (113 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 Solace in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Solace a female name?
Yes, 54.0% of people registered as Solace 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 Solace still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Solace 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 Solace 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 have the name Solace?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Solace, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.