Girl · Latin
Prudence
Say it: PROO-dunss
Meaning
From Latin prudentia 'foresight, good sense'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Found in medieval England, then much used by Puritans as a virtue name.
Its wave through time
Most used in the 1880s
In the United States
- 5,843 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1880, about 1 in 5,400 girls
- 80 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Prudentia, Prudance
| Latin | Prudentia |
|---|---|
| French | Prudence |
| Italian | Prudenzia |
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Puritan church and town records of England and New England
- Parish baptism registers
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.