Given name & surname
Prentice
“a student; an apprentice”
Prentice is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “a student; an apprentice.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “a student; an apprentice.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1884. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Prentice through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 3,992
- 3,929 boys · 63 girls
- Most popular year
- 1939
- 60 babies
- 2025
- 6
- #11,671 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −58%
- Cooling
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 6 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 11,671 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 54.5% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 60 in 1939. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,110 as a first name in 2020; 7,631 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Prentice’s family of names
Prentice has a related form in Prentiss. Prentice has a related form in Prentis. Prentice has a related form in Prentise.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 5
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
People named Prentice
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Prentice, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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