Florence

Where Florence comes from

Borrowed from French Florence f, from Latin Flōrentia (as a given name, a feminine form of Flōrentius), from flōrens (“flowering, flourishing”), from flōs (“flower”), connected with English bloom and blossom. Doublet of Firenze. The female given name gained popularity from Florence Nightingale who was born in the Tuscan city.
— Wiktionary's entry for Florence
  • Latin
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1820
    Florence Nightingale born
    English social reformer, statistician, and founder of modern nursing
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #14 among girls — 1,063 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1898
    Peak, #6
    3,790 babies named Florence — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1945
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #140.
  5. 1996
    Florence Pugh born
    British actress
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Latin.
  • A male given name from Latin.
Namesakes
  • Florence Nightingale · English social reformer, statistician, and founder of modern nursing, 1820–1910
  • Florence Pugh · British actress, born 1996
  • Florence Griffith Joyner · American track and field athlete, 1959–1998
  • Florence Devouard · French open knowledge advocate, Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, co-founder of Wikimedia France, born 1968
  • Florence Welch · British singer, born 1986

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.