How rare is the name Patience?

10,871 people in the United States have the first name Patience, about 1 in 27,783. It ranks #2,336 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

PATIENCE

#2,336

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
10,871
About
1 in 27,783
This common or more
79.4%
Who bears it

Of the 10,871 people named Patience, 47.4% reported their origin as White, 39.5% as Black and 6.3% as two or more races. 99.2% are female. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Patience peaked in 2006, when 508 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
2006
Births that year
508
In 2025*
172 ▼66%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 12,469 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Patience by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2000s, when it ranked #1,374. The largest share of babies named Patience, 41.8%, were born between 1997 and 2012, as Generation Z.

1880s#1,61359
1890s#1,78182
1900s#2,23475
1910s#3,289144
1920s#3,970163
1930s#3,429171
1940s#3,235216
1950s#3,449258
1960s#3,118360
1970s#2,306750
1980s#2,589759
1990s#1,6812,040
2000s#1,3743,529
2010s#1,8332,637
2020s#2,2111,226
Before 19011.2%
Greatest Generation 1901–272.7%
Silent Generation 1928–452.7%
Baby boom 1946–644.1%
Generation X 1965–808.3%
Millennials 1981–9615.9%
Generation Z 1997–1241.8%
2013 and later23.1%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Patience is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Patience has been most common in Arkansas (2.1×), Georgia (2×), and South Carolina (1.9×), and least common in New Jersey (0.19×).

8,111 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Patience

#2,333 Nelda · 10,907#2,335 Tianna · 10,895#2,337 Hernan · 10,838#2,338 Kenna · 10,812

Also a last name

As a last name, Patience ranks #45,684 of 156,621, with 504 people. See Patience as a last name

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