Florence carries 338,289 cumulative American girls on SSA record, sits at rank 435 today, and reached its peak in 1918. The chart traces a sustained early-twentieth-century plateau, a long graceful decline through the mid-century, near-dormancy through the 1990s and 2000s, and a clear 2010s-2020s revival as American parents have rediscovered the early-1900s grandmother cluster.
The Latin source
Florence comes from the Latin Florentia, the feminine form of Florentius, derived from florens meaning "flourishing" or "prosperous." The name shares the same root as the Italian city Firenze and the English place name Florence. Saint Florence and several early medieval Christian women carrying the name gave it religious visibility across European Christendom.
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), the founder of modern nursing, was named for the Italian city where she was born and gave the name its dominant English-language anchor for over a century. Florence + The Machine (Florence Welch) and Florence Pugh have refreshed the name for younger generations and contributed measurably to the recent American revival.
The grandmother-revival cluster
Florence sits with Dorothy, Edith, Eleanor, and Beatrice in the early-1900s American girl cluster currently in deep revival. Browse the 1910s decade list for cluster context, or browse the broader Latin girl names family.
The counter-reading
The age skip is the practical question. Florence essentially disappeared from American mainstream use for two full generations, which means contemporary Florences are either over ninety or under five with very little middle ground. Some 2020s parents read that as exactly the appeal; others find the dramatic generational gap heavier than current Eleanor or Beatrice. Nicknames Flo, Florrie, Flossie, and Ren are all in active contemporary use, with Ren reading distinctly modern.