Maurice
Where Maurice comes from
From Middle English Maurice, from Late Latin Mauritius, derived from Maurus (“Moor; dark, swarthy”). Popularized by a 3rd-century Roman soldier martyr.
- Latin
- 2 syllables
- Vowel-ended
Along the way
- 1862Maurice Maeterlinck bornBelgian playwright and essayist
- 1875Maurice Ravel bornFrench composer
- 1880First SSA yearAlready #145 among boys — 93 babies in the first year on record.
- 1914Peak, #941,256 babies named Maurice — more than any year before or since.
- 2010The fadeThe first year with half the peak's births — down to #448.
In the dictionary
- A male given name from Latin, equivalent to English Morris.
Namesakes
- Maurice Maeterlinck · Belgian playwright and essayist, 1862–1949
- Maurice Ravel · French composer, 1875–1937
- Maurice Wilkins · New Zealand-born English physicist and biologist, 1916–2004
- Maurice Allais · French economist, 1911–2010
- Maurice Chevalier · French singer, actor, and entertainer, 1888–1972
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.