Boys' name · peaked in 1979
Terrance name popularity since 1925
70,670 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Terrance (1.1% girls, 98.9% boys). Half of them were born in 1977 or earlier, so the typical Terrance is about 49 years old in 2026. Terrance peaked in 1979 as the #179 name for boys, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 70,670
- Named Terrance, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,570 for boys in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 98.9% boys
- 751 girls · 69,919 boys
- Most popular in
- North Dakota
- 2.25× its national share
Peak year is the year Terrance made up the largest share of US boys, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Terrance births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year by count was 1988. Measured as a share of all babies, Terrance peaked in 1979.
- Fastest rise: Between 1935 and 1940, Terrance became 2.2× more common, from 1 in 10,200 baby boys to 1 in 4,560.
- Steepest fall: Between 2020 and 2025, its share of baby boys fell by 51%, from 1 in 7,640 to 1 in 15,700.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Terrance's share of all US boys five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Terrance.
Decade by decade
Babies named Terrance in each decade, and its rank among boys' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 0 | 170 | – |
| 1930s | 0 | 1,120 | #574 |
| 1940s | 55 | 5,457 | #282 |
| 1950s | 148 | 9,834 | #213 |
| 1960s | 157 | 9,059 | #240 |
| 1970s | 206 | 11,884 | #192 |
| 1980s | 143 | 12,570 | #203 |
| 1990s | 42 | 9,547 | #315 |
| 2000s | 0 | 5,646 | #455 |
| 2010s | 0 | 3,607 | #675 |
| 2020–25 | 0 | 1,025 | #1,570 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 boys that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
26.6% of babies named Terrance from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Millennial years (1981–1996). The full split by generation:
Where Terrance is most popular
The index compares Terrance's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Terrance.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| North Dakota | 2.25× | 475 |
| Louisiana | 2.13× | 2,564 |
| Mississippi | 2.09× | 1,701 |
| Minnesota | 1.70× | 2,076 |
| Michigan | 1.69× | 4,338 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Terrance and were given to at least 1,000 boys from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Boys | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Terrance (this page) | 69,919 | 1979 |
| Terrence | 71,823 | 1970 |
| Terance | 2,840 | 1978 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Terrance's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Terrance.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Terrance (1979).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data