Prince is a title name from the Latin princeps and means "first" or "chief", the word for a ruler's son and for a sovereign in his own right. The musician Prince, born Prince Rogers Nelson, made it a name rather than a title for many Americans, and it has a long history in African American families. Prince has been in the US top 1000 all century, peaked at number 297 in 2019 and ranks number 447 in 2025.