Terence comes from the Roman family name Terentius, whose meaning is uncertain; it is best known from the playwright Terence, a freed slave from North Africa whose comedies were read in Roman schools. In Ireland it was long used as an English stand-in for the Gaelic Toirdhealbhach. Terence stood at number 800 in 2000, the end of a long run in the US top 1000, and has since fallen to number 2753 in 2025.