Hortense
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Meaning
“French, from the Roman family name Hortensius, related to Latin hortus, garden.”
How popular is Hortense around the world?
In the United States, Hortense is not on the Social Security record for 2020 to 2025: names under 5 in a year are withheld at source. In France, about 455 girls named Hortense were born in 2025, the 113th most common name among girls that year.
Hortense is on the official records of France.
United States
under 5 a year
In the United States, Hortense is not on the Social Security record for 2020 to 2025: names under 5 in a year are withheld at source.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Hortense peaked in the 1890s and the 1920s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
France
1 in 1,400
In France, about 455 girls named Hortense were born in 2025, the 113th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Canada
last on record 2021
Hortense is not on the 2024 record for Canada, where names under 5 in a year are excluded at source.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, England and Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the South Australia record for 1944 to 2017: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Hortense
Most people given the name Hortense in the United States were born between 1940 and 1959. The Hortense you meet today is most often in her 70s or 80s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Hortense deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Hortense truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Hortense fits with your family’s names and surname.
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