Florence (given name)

Florence

Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) inspired the use of the name, especially in English-speaking countries.
Pronunciation	/ˈflɒrəns/ French: [flɔ.ʁɑ̃s]
Gender	usually Female rarely Male
Origin
Word/name	English < French < Latin
Meaning	blossoming in faith, in belief (mystic name)
Other names
Derived	Latin, verbs florere and florens, and masculine Roman name Florentius
Related names	Fiorenza, Flo, Florance, Florencia, Florencita, Florentia, Florrie, Floss, Flossie, Flossy, Flora, Florella, Florentina, Florentine, Florian, Florina, Floria, Florinda

Robert W. Crellin rescued Florence L. Barbour from the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland on 29 May 1914 on the St. Lawrence River. Florence was among the top 10 names for girls in the United States and Canada in the early 20th century.

Florence is usually a feminine given name. It is derived from the French version of (Saint) Florentia, a Roman martyr under Diocletian. ^[2] The Latin florens, florentius means "blossoming", verb floreo, meaning "I blossom / I flower / I flourish". Florence was in the past also used as a translation of the Latin version Florentius, and may be used in this context as a masculine given name.

Popularity and history

A notable increased use of the name came in the aftermath of Florence Nightingale, a nurse in British hospitals during the Crimean War and is usually considered the founder of modern nursing. She was given the name because she was born in Florence, Italy. The 14th century wife of Richard de Wylughby, of London, was named Florence. ^[3] A later example is Florence Wrey (d. 1718), wife of John Cole of the Irish County of Fermanagh (married in 1707), who was herself named after her mother, Florence Rolle, the wife of Sir Bourchier Wrey, 4th Baronet (c. 1653–1696) of Tawstock, Devon, and the daughter of Sir John Rolle (d. 1706) of Stevenstone, ^[4] by his wife and distant cousin Florence Rolle (1630–1705), an even earlier Florence, the daughter and heiress of Denys Rolle (1614–1638), of Stevenstone and Bicton in Devon. This name is also of note because John Cole built a large mansion in Northern Ireland which he named Florence Court after his wife. John Cole's grandson, Lord Mountflorence, planted a peculiarly upright yew tree in the grounds of Florence Court, which was to become the mother tree of all Irish Yews or "Florence Court Yews". ^[5]

Usage

Florencia, a Spanish version, is among the most popular names for baby girls in Argentina and Uruguay. Florence was most popular in the United States between 1900 and 1940, when it was in the top 100 names given to baby girls. It then declined in use for girls after the 1970s but has been increasing in popularity. It has been ranked among the top 1,000 names for newborn American girls since 2017 and ranked in 622nd place on the popularity chart, with 473 uses, in 2022. It was among the 1,000 most popular names for American boys between 1880 and 1914. It then declined in use for boys. The name was given to seven American boys in 2022. ^{[6] [7]} The name has ranked among the top 100 names for newborn girls in England and Wales since 2008 and among the top 10 names for girls there since 2021. ^[8] It was among the top 100 names for newborn girls in New Zealand between 1900 and 1942, after which it declined in use. It has since returned to popularity and has been among the top 100 names for girls there since 2013. It was the 39th most popular name for girls there in 2022. ^[9] It has been among the too 100 names for newborn girls in New South Wales, Australia since 2016 and among the top 50 names since 2019. ^[10] Florence was the 30th most popular name for newborn girls in Canada in 2021 and the fourth most popular name given to baby girls in French speaking Quebec, Canada in 2021 ^{[11] [12]} It dropped to 35th in Canada in 2022. ^[13] In Belgium, the name ranked in 180th place on the popularity chart in 2021, a decline from its peak in popularity in 2000 and 2001, when it was among the top 100 names for newborn Belgian girls. ^[14] In France, the name was among the top 500 names for girls between 1900 and 1992, and at its peak popularity between 1963 and 1973, when it was among the 20 most popular names for French girls. ^[15]

Name variants

Alternate forms include:

• Florance (English)
• Florentine (German)
• Fiorentina, Fiorenza (Italian)
• Florencia, Florencita, Floriana, Florinia (Spanish)
• Flóra (Hungarian)

English nicknames for Florence include Flo, Florrie and Flossie.

Florent and Florenz are masculine equivalents. Florence itself has also been used for boys (Latin Florentius), particularly in Ireland where it was used as an anglicisation of Irish Finnian or Flaithrí. ^[16]

Notable people

Women

• Florence Auer (1880–1962), American actress
• Florence Austin (1884–1927), American violinist
• Florence Balgarnie (1856–1928), British suffragette, speaker, pacifist, feminist, temperance activist
• Florence Ballard (1943–1976), African-American singer
• Florence Bascom (1862–1945), American geologist
• Florence Beatty-Brown (1912–2002), American sociologist
• Florence Beaumont (died 1967), one of eight Americans known to have set themselves on fire in protest of the Vietnam War
• Florence Hague Becker (1886–1971), 16th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution
• Florence Blatrix-Contat (born 1966), French politician
• Florence Blenkiron (1904–1991), British motorcyclist and record breaker
• Florence Bolan, U.S. Secret Service special agent
• Florence Brenzikofer (born 1975), Swiss politician
• Florence V. Brittingham (1856–1891), American poet, short story writer
• Florence Bjelke-Petersen (1920–2017), politician, writer and wife of the longest serving premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen
• Florence Bore, Kenyan politician
• Florence Caddy (1837–1923), English writer
• Florence Loiret Caille (born 1975), French actress
• Florence Missouri Caton (1875–1917), British nurse who served in Serbia during World War I
• Florence Anderson Clark (1835–1918), American author, newspaper editor, librarian, university dean
• Florence Abigail Cowles (1878-1958), American cookbook author and journalist
• Florence Avalon Daggett (1907–2002), American filmmaker
• Florence Daysh (1908–1979), Barbadian social worker and politician
• Florence Delay (born 1941), French actress
• Florence Eid-Oakden, Lebanese-British economist
• Florence Eiseman (1899–1988), American children's clothing designer
• Florence Eshalomi (born 1980), British politician
• Florence Ezeh (born 1977), French-Togolese hammer thrower
• Florence Faivre (born 1983), Thai actress and model
• Florence Fang (born 1933/1934), American businesswoman, publisher and philanthropist
• Florence Holmes Gerke (1896-1964), American landscape architect
• Florence Magruder Gilmore (1881-1945), American author
• Florence Hackett (1884–1954), American silent film actress
• Florence Harding (1860–1924), wife of American president Warren G. Harding
• Florence Hartley, American writer of the Victorian era
• Florence Hay, American baseball player
• Florence Henderson (1934–2016), American actress and singer
• Florence Hoath (born 1984), British actress
• Florence Sally Horner, the child whose kidnapping inspired and is referenced in Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita
• Florence Frances Huberwald, American singer, teacher, suffragist, national leader of the women's movement
• Florence Hunt (born 2007), English actress
• Florence Huntley (1861–1912), American journalist, editor, humorist, occult author
• Florence Carpenter Ives (1854–1900), American journalist
• Florence Foster Jenkins (1868–1944), American soprano
• Florence Fuller (1867–1946), Australian artist
• Florence Johnston, fictional character on the TV series The Jeffersons and Checking In
• Florence Griffith Joyner (1959–1998), American athlete in track and field
• Florence Kelley (1859–1932), American social reformist and feminist
• Florence King (1936–2016), Mississippi author
• Florence Klingensmith (1904–1933), American aviator
• Florence Knapp (supercentenarian) (1873–1988), American supercentenarian
• Florence E.S. Knapp (1875–1949), American politician
• Florence Knight, British chef and columnist
• Florence Knoll (1917–2019), American architect
• Florence E. Kollock (1848-1925), American Universalist minister and lecturer
• Florence LaBadie (1888–1917), Canadian silent movie actress
• Florence Lawrence (1890–1938), inventor and actress, referred to as "The First Movie Star"
• Florence Littauer (1928–2020), American writer and public speaker
• Florence Marly (1919–1978), Czech film and television actress
• Florence Violet McKenzie (1890–1982), known as "Mrs Mac", Australia's first female electrical engineer, founder of the Women's Emergency Signalling Corps
• Florence Mills (1896–1927), actress in 1920s black theatre and the Harlem Renaissance
• Florence Mudzingwa, Zimbabwean disability rights activist
• Florence Newton (fl. 1661), Irish alleged witch
• Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), pioneer of modern nursing
• Florence Sillers Ogden (1891–1971), American columnist, segregationist, and white supremacist
• Florence Oloo (born 1960), Kenyan scientist and professor of chemical sciences
• Florence Price (1887–1953), African-American composer and teacher
• Florence Provendier (born 1965), French politician
• Florence Pugh, (born 1996), English actress
• Florence Marjorie Robertson (1904–1986), British actress and singer
• Florence Sabin (1871–1953), anatomist and pathologist, first female professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School
• Florence Senanayake (1903-1988), Sri Lankan Sinhala MP for Kiriella
• Florence Wells Slater (1864–1941), American entomologist and schoolteacher
• Florence Stephens (1881–1979), landholder and the main figure of the Huseby court case
• Florence Stoney (1870–1932), Irish physician, first female radiologist in the United Kingdom.
• Florence Sulman (1876–1965), English-Australian author and educationalist
• Florence M. Sullivan (1930–2020), New York politician
• Florence Trail (1854–1944), American educator, writer
• Florence Tsagué Assopgoum (born 1977), Cameroonian political scientist and writer
• Florence Turner (1885–1946), American actress
• Florence Vandamm (1883–1966), British photographer
• Florence Signaigo Wagner (1919–2019), American botanist who served as president of the American Fern Society
• Florence Warfield Sillers (1869–1958), American historian and socialite
• Florence Welch (born 1986), British singer and frontwoman of indie rock band Florence and the Machine
• Florence Winsome Leighton (born 1948), British television presenter known as Wincey Willis
• Florence Duval West (1840–1881), American poet
• Florence Hull Winterburn (1858–?), American author, editor
• Florence Wyman-Richardson (1855–1920), American suffragist

Men

• Florence of Worcester (died 1118), medieval chronicler
• Florance Broadhurst (1861–1909), West Australian businessman
• Florence Crauford Grove (1838-1902) English mountaineer
• Florence Hensey (fl. 1748–1759), Irish-born French spy
• Florence O'Donoghue (1894–1967), Irish revolutionary and historian
• Florentius Volusenus (1504-1546/7), Scottish humanist whose name is also spelled Florence Wolson, Wolsey, or Wilson

See also

• Florence (disambiguation)
• Florine
• Fiorenza (disambiguation)
• All pages with titles beginning with Florence
• All pages with titles containing Florence

References

1. https://www.nelsonstar.com/news/1914-silverton-shipwreck-survivors-surface-4835881
2. Albert Dauzat, Noms et prénoms de France, Librairie Larousse 1980, édition revue et commentée par Marie-Thérèse Morlet. pp. 259b–260a.
3. Plea Rolls of the court of Common Pleas; CP 40/357; http://aalt.law.uh.edu/E3/CP40no357/aCP40no357mm1toEnd/IMG_7603.htm  ; in Yorkshire
4. John Lodge & Mervyn Archdall, The Peerage of Ireland
5. Thomas Pakenham, Meetings with Remarkable Trees, George Weidenfeld & Nicolson Press, 1996
6. "Popularity of Name Florence". www.ssa.gov. United States Social Security Administration. 12 May 2023. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
7. Campbell, Mike. "Popularity in United States". www.behindthename.com. Behind the Name. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
8. Campbell, Mike. "Popularity in England and Wales". www.behindthename.com. Behind the Name. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
9. Campbell, Mike. "Popularity in New Zealand". www.behindthename.com. Behind the Name. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
10. Campbell, Mike. "Popularity in New South Wales, Australia". www.behindthename.com. Behind the Name. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
11. "First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators". www150.statcan.gc.ca. Statistics Canada. 9 May 2023. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
12. "Les 10 prénoms les plus populaires au Québec en 2021". www.prenomsquebec.ca. Prénoms Québécois. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
13. "Table 17-10-0147-01 First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators (Number)". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
14. Campbell, Mike. "Popularity in Belgium". www.behindthename.com. Behind the Name. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
15. Campbell, Mike. "Popularity in France". www.behindthename.com. Behind the Name. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
16. Patricia Hanks and Flavia Hodges, A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford University Press 1990