unisex name

Patrice

pa-TREES

  • Origin French
  • Gender Unisex
  • Syllables 2
  • Letters 7
  • Popularity Rare
  • Births on record 175,047

Northern Ireland

#357

2005 births

Patrice is masculine in French and feminine in English — the same spelling, opposite sexes on either side of the Channel. About 20 percent of the births in our records are female, so the French use dominates the total.

  • Patrice is a name of French origin.
  • Peaked in France in 1961, when 5,760 babies were given the name.
  • It has been falling over the past decade in France.
  • Today about 1 in 117,911 babies in France is given this name.
  • First appears in birth records in 1900.
  • 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.

Patrice over time

Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.

47,485
'00 '10 '20 '30 '40 '50 '60 '70 '80 '90 '00 '10 '20
Show the numbers
Births named Patrice by decade in France
Decade Births
1900s 150
1910s 225
1920s 450
1930s 765
1940s 10,070
1950s 45,565
1960s 47,485
1970s 26,490
1980s 6,070
1990s 1,105
2000s 340
2010s 90
2020s (to 2025) 30

What Patrice means

Patrice means a patrician, or a nobleman of Rome. The Latin patricius describes membership of the city's founding families rather than any personal quality of the person carrying it.

Where Patrice comes from

Patrice is the French form of Patricius — a patrician, a member of the Roman families who claimed descent from the original senate, from pater, a father. Saint Patrick carried the name as a Roman Briton before his capture and later mission to Ireland, and the Irish Pádraig descends from the same word. The English-speaking world took Patrice as a feminine alongside Patricia, while French kept it masculine, so the same spelling reads as a man in Paris and a woman in Ohio. Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the Congo, is the masculine's best-known bearer.

Patrice in use

Patrice peaked in France in 1961, when 5,760 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now charts in three of the seven markets we track — 6120th in France on 5 births, 6199th in England and Wales and 11511th in the United States on 11 — across 175,047 lifetime births. About 20 percent of recorded births are female, which is the split you would expect from a name that is masculine in its larger market and feminine in its smaller ones.

How popular is Patrice?

In 2025, Patrice was given to 5 babies in France. It is a rare choice.

Where Patrice is used

Northern Ireland #357 4 in 2005
Ireland #640 4 in 2004
Scotland #717 3 in 1993
Canada #2,628 7 in 2023
France #6,120 5 in 2025
England & Wales #6,199 3 in 2025
United States #11,511 11 in 2025

The bar shows how near the top of each country's list the name sits, on a scale where #1 fills the row and #1,000 is a sliver. The figures beside it are the real rank and the babies recorded that year.

French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.

Names that peaked alongside Patrice

These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.

Parents who like Patrice also like

Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Patrice over the last century — the same taste, a different name.

1 nickname for Patrice

Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.

Every name with built-in nicknames →

Patrice in other languages

The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.

Galician
Patricia
Romanian
Patrick
Spanish
Patricia

Sibling names for Patrice

Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Patrice — the two things that make a sibling set grate.

Common questions about Patrice

What does the name Patrice mean?

A patrician — a member of Rome's founding families, from pater, a father.

Is Patrice a boys' or girls' name?

Masculine in French, feminine in English. About 20 percent of the births in our records are female.

Is Patrice related to Patrick?

Yes, both from Patricius. Saint Patrick carried it as a Roman Briton.

How popular is Patrice?

6120th in France, its largest market, and 11511th in the United States.

How many syllables are in Patrice?

Patrice has 2 syllables.

What are the nicknames for Patrice?

Patrice is usually shortened to Pat.

Is Patrice a good name?

That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Patrice currently ranks #6,120 in France. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.