Horace

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Horatius in ZA South Africa, GY Guyana, Horacy in PL Poland and Horaz in SE Sweden.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 6 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Horace is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name15K records spelled Horace35 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, United States

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic

  Also written Horacio, Horácio, Horacío, Horaçio, Hóracio

• French given name7.7K records spelled Horace4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Canada, Gabon

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Horaci

• Swahili given name2.6K records spelled Horace5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Kenya, South Africa, Hong Kong

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho

  Also written Horatius

• Greek given name873 records spelled Horace3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom

  Also written Oratios, Ορατιος

• Russian given name325 records spelled Horace13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, United States, Ukraine, United Kingdom

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian

  Also written Гораций, Орас, Горацій, Горации, Horatius

• Czech given name247 records spelled Horace4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Czechia, United States, Slovakia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Czech, Slovak

  Also written Horatius

47 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Horace is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• From the old Roman family name Horatius. The name was once widely used among admirers of the Roman poet Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus}, but it is at present out of fashion. See also Horatio.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, from the personal name Horace, Latin Horatius, a Roman family name of unknown origin, associated chiefly with the name of the poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 BC).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, a poet and philosopher of the Roman Augustan Age (65–8 BCE).

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, Roman poet; pers. name

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In French, Latin Horatius; étymologie incertaine, nom romain ancien.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Horace Walpoleb. 1717GBEnglish writer and politician (1717–1797)
• Horace Bénédict de Saussureb. 1740CHGenevan scientist (1740-1799)
• Horace Vernetb. 1789FRFrench painter (1789–1863)
• Horace Mannb. 1796USAmerican politician (1796-1859)
• Horace Greeleyb. 1811USAmerican politician and publisher (1811–1872)
• Horace Darwinb. 1851GBBritish engineer (1851-1928)
• Hjalmar Schachtb. 1877DEnot in their usual nameGerman politician and economist (1877–1970)
• George Gallupb. 1901USnot in their usual nameAmerican statistician (1901–1984)
• Horace Grantb. 1965USAmerican basketball player (born 1965)
• Hugh Dancyb. 1975GBnot in their usual nameEnglish actor (born 1975)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 277 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Horace?

We estimate roughly 16 thousand people bear Horace (counting its spellings and scripts) across 7 countries in our records.

In which country does Horace have the most bearers?

We estimate about 16 thousand people bear Horace in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled horace.

How common is Horace compared with other names?

In the United States, Horace is the 981st most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Horace a male or female name?

Horace is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Horace mean?

Recorded meaning: From Latin, from the Roman family name Horatius.