Terence is a masculine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

, derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

name Terentius. The

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

form is

Terry Terry is a unisex diminutive nickname for the given names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence (given name), Terence, Terrance (masculine). People Male * Terry A. Canales, American politician * Terry A. Doughty (born 1959), American district ...

. Spelling variants include Terrence, Terrance, Terance and (in Scotland) Torrance.

Notable people with this name

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a playwright during the Roman Republic. He was the author of six Roman comedy, comedies based on Greek comedy, Greek originals by Menander or Apollodorus of Carystus. A ...

(c. 195/185 – c. 159 BC), Latin playwright * Saint Terence, several people *

Geezer Butler Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler (born 17 July 1949) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and primary lyricist of the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He has also recorded and performed with Heave ...

(born Terence Butler in 1949), British musician of

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

fame *

Terry Callier Terrence Orlando "Terry" Callier (May 24, 1945 – October 27, 2012) was an American soul music, soul, Folk music, folk and jazz guitarist and singer-songwriter. Life and career Callier was born in the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, and was ...

(1945–2012), American jazz and folk singer and guitarist *

Terence Chang Terence Chang Chia-Chen () is a Hong Kong and American film producer. Life and career Chang was born in Hong Kong in 1949. In 1968, he took architecture courses at the University of Oregon; he then went on to study film at New York University ...

, Hong Kong and American film producer *

Terence Crawford Terence Allan Crawford (born September 28, 1987) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple quadruple champion#Boxing, world championships in four weight classes, from lightweight to light middleweight, including the undisputed cha ...

(born 1987), American boxer *

Terence Trent D'Arby Sananda Francesco Maitreya (born Terence Trent Howard; March 15, 1962), who started his career with the stage name Terence Trent D'Arby, is an American singer and songwriter who came to fame with his debut studio album, '' Introducing the Hard ...

(born 1962), American singer and songwriter * Terry A. Davis (1969–2018), American programmer, developer of TempleOS *

Terence Davies Terence Davies (10 November 1945 – 7 October 2023) was a British screenwriter, film director, and novelist. He is best known as the writer and director of autobiographical films, including '' Distant Voices, Still Lives'' (1988), '' The Long ...

(1945–2023), English film director and screenwriter *

Terrence Deyalsingh Terrence Deyalsingh is a Trinidad and Tobago politician from the People's National Movement. He was MP for St. Joseph in the House of Representatives from 2013 until 2025. He was minister of health under Prime Ministers Keith Rowley and Stuart Yo ...

, Trinidad and Tobago politician * Terence Dials (b. 1983), American basketball player *

Terry Fox Terrance Stanley Fox (July 28, 1958June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, having had one leg amputated due to cancer, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for can ...

(1958–1981), Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist *

Terence Garvin Terence Damian Garvin (born January 1, 1991) is an American college football coach and former linebacker. He is the defensive coordinator for Norfolk State, a position he has held since 2025. He played college football for West Virginia. After g ...

(b. 1991), American football player * Terrence Giddy, known as Terry Giddy (1950–2023), Australian Paralympic athlete * Torry Gillick (1915–1971), Scottish footballer *

Terence Hill Terence Hill (born Mario Girotti; 29 March 1939) is an Italian actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He began his career as a child actor and gained international fame for starring roles in action and comedy films, many with hi ...

, Italian actor * Terrence Hodson (died 2004), Australian murder victim *

Terrence Howard Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor performing on film and television. He has received a Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden ...

, American actor and singer *

Terrence Hughes In professional wrestling, TNT is a tag team consisting of twin brothers Terrell Hughes and Terrence Hughes (born February 25, 1995), the sons of TNA and WWE Hall of Famer Devon "D-Von Dudley" Hughes. Early lives Terrell and Terrence compete ...

, American professional wrestler *

Terrence Jenkins Terrence Jenkins (born April 21, 1982) is an American actor, television presenter, model and Entertainment journalism, entertainment reporter best known as the host of BET's popular music video countdown show ''106 & Park'' from 2006 until 2012. ...

, American actor, TV personality, and model * Terence Kelly, many people *

Terry Labonte Terrance Lee Labonte (born November 16, 1956), nicknamed "Texas Terry" or "the Iceman", is an American former stock car racing, stock car driver. He raced from 1978 to 2014 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup and Sprint Cup Series (now called the NAS ...

(born 1956), American race car driver *

Terence Lam Terence Lam Ka-him (; born 3 September 1991) is a Hong Kong composer, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Lam had a musical interest since a young age, which he started to learn playing the piano when he was four or five years old. He atte ...

(born 1991), Hong Kong composer, singer-songwriter, and record producer *

Terrence Magee Terrence Tyler Magee (born March 16, 1993) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the LSU Tigers and was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as ...

, American football player *

Terrence Malick Terrence Frederick Malick (; born November 30, 1943) is an American filmmaker. Malick began his career as part of the New Hollywood generation of filmmakers and received awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, and ...

, American filmmaker *

Terence MacSwiney Terence James MacSwiney (; ; 28 March 1879 – 25 October 1920) was an Irish playwright, author and politician. He was elected as Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork during the Irish War of Independence in 1920. He was arrested by the British Governme ...

(1879–1920), Lord Mayor of Cork who died on hunger strike during the Irish War of Independence *

Terry McAuliffe Terence Richard McAuliffe (born February 9, 1957) is an American businessman and politician who served as the List of governors of Virginia, 72nd governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat ...

, American politician and businessman *

Terence McKenna Terence Kemp McKenna (November 16, 1946–April 3, 2000) was an American ethnobotanist and mystic who advocated for the responsible use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants and mushrooms. He spoke and wrote about a variety of subjects, ...

, American writer and philosopher * Terence McKenna (film producer), Canadian film producer * Terence Millin (1903–1980), Irish surgeon *

Terence Morris Terence Darea Morris (born January 11, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. He was twice the Israeli Basketball Premier League Defensive Player of the Year, in 2007 and 2008. He was an All-EuroLeague First Team selectio ...

(born 1979), NBA and Israel Basketball Premier League basketball player *

Terence Newman Terence Newman (born September 4, 1978) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a cornerback for 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals, and Minnesota Vik ...

, American football player * Terence O'Loghlin (1764–1843), Irish soldier of the British Army *

Terence O'Neill Terence Marne O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of the Maine, Privy Council of Northern Ireland, PC (NI) (10 September 1914 – 12 June 1990), was the fourth Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and leader (1963–1969) of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). ...

, Ulster Unionist politician, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland *

Terence Parkin Terence Mike Parkin (born 12 April 1980 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) is a swimmer from South Africa, who won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the 200m Breaststroke. Parkin, who was born deaf, also competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics, ...

, deaf South African swimmer and the most decorated Deaflympic athlete in history *

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

(1948–2015), English author *

Terence Ranger Terence "Terry" Osborn Ranger (29 November 1929 – 3 January 2015) was a prominent British Africanist, best known as a historian of Zimbabwe. Part of the post-colonial generation of historians, his work spanned the pre- and post-Independence ...

, (1929–2015) British historian of Africa *

Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...

(1911–1977), British dramatist *

Terrence Romeo Terrence Bill Vitanzos Romeo (born March 16, 1992) is a Filipino professional basketball player and for the Terrafirma Dyip of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He plays both the point guard and shooting guard positions. He also ser ...

(born 1992), Filipino basketball player *

Terence Sanders Terence Robert Beaumont Sanders (2 June 1901 – 6 April 1985) was a British rower who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics, a lecturer in engineering at Cambridge, an army officer engaged in countering the V2 threat, civil servant and High Sher ...

(1901–1985), British rower * Terrence Shannon Jr. (born 2000), American basketball player *

Terence Siufay Terence Siufay (born 13 July 1976, in Macau) is a Macanese singer and actor. who has been with the group C-Plus for the past 10 years in Macau. In 2007, he joined Gold Typhoon in Hong Kong. He got the new male singer bronze award from JSG 07 and ...

(born 1976), Macanese singer and actor * Terence Smith (disambiguation), several people *

Terence Stamp Terence Henry Stamp (born 22 July 1938) is an English actor. Known for his sophisticated villain roles, he was named by ''Empire (magazine), Empire'' as one of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time in 1995. He has received various accolades in ...

(born 1938), British actor * Terence Steele (born 1997), American football player *

Terence Tao Terence Chi-Shen Tao (; born 17 July 1975) is an Australian-American mathematician, Fields medalist, and professor of mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he holds the James and Carol Collins Chair in the Co ...

(born 1975), Australian mathematician, winner of a Fields Medal *

Terrence Trammell Terrence Trammell (born November 23, 1978) is a retired American track and field athlete who was the silver medalist for the 110 meter hurdles at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics, and three time silver medalist for the World Championships. He w ...

(born 1978), American track and field athlete *

Terence Tse Terence Chee Ming Tse ��慈銘is an educator, speaker, advisor and commentator. He is a co-founder of Nexus FrontierTech, an artificial intelligence studio. Tse is an Associate Professor of Finance at the ESCP business school, and Hult Inter ...

, educator, speaker, advisor and commentator * Terrence Watson (born 1987), American-Israeli basketball player *

Terrence Wilcutt Terrence Wade Wilcutt (born October 31, 1949) is a United States Marine Corps officer and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions. Wilcutt was NASA's Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance, until his retirement from ...

, American astronaut *

Terence Winter Terence Patrick Winter (born October 2, 1960) is an American writer and producer of television and film. He was the creator, writer, and executive producer of the HBO television series '' Boardwalk Empire'' (2010–2014). Before creating ''Boar ...

, American television and film writer * Terence Wilson, also known as Astro, former British singer and member of British band

UB40 UB40 are an English reggae band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy ...

Terence Yin Terence Yin Chi-wai (, born 19 May 1975) is a Hong Kong film actor, singer, producer, and media relations specialist. Yin has starred in over 30 movies, released one solo album and resides in Hong Kong. Early life May 19, 1975, Yin was born ...

(born 1975), Hong Kong film actor, singer, producer, and media relations specialist *

Terence Young (director) Stewart Terence Herbert Young (20 June 1915 – 7 September 1994) was a British film director and screenwriter who worked in the United Kingdom, Europe and Hollywood. He is best known for directing three List of James Bond films, James Bond fi ...

, British film director * Terence Young (politician) (born 1952), Canadian politician *

Terence Yung Terence Yung (born Hong Kong, China) is a classical pianist, international arbitrator, author of the legal blogbr>''The Yung Conspiracy'' and host of the classical music podcastbr>''Really Good Piano Playing with Terence Yung'' Education A ...

, American classical pianist

Fictional characters

* Terence or Terrence (Terry) Granchester (or Grandchester), male character in ''

Candy Candy is a Japanese series created by Japanese writer Keiko Nagita under the pen name Kyoko Mizuki. The main character, Candice "Candy" White Ardley, is a blonde girl with freckles, large emerald green eyes and long hair, worn in pigtails wi ...

'' (manga, anime and Final Story) * Terence the Tractor in ''

The Railway Series ''The Railway Series'' is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Sodor (fictional island), Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by Wi ...

'' and ''

Thomas and Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' is a British children's television series which aired from 9 October 1984 to 20 January 2021. Based on ''The Railway Series'' books by Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher, the series was developed for television by Brit ...

'' * Terence, the large red bird from the ''

Angry Birds ''Angry Birds'' is a Finnish media franchise created by Rovio Entertainment, and owned by Sega. The game series focuses on the titular flock of colorful angry birds who try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs. Inspired by the game ''Cr ...

'' video game series * Terence, a pixie dust sparrow-man from ''

Disney Fairies ''Disney Fairies'' is a The Walt Disney Company, Disney Media franchise, franchise created in 2005. The franchise is built around the character of Tinker Bell (Disney character), Tinker Bell from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney's 1953 anima ...

'' * Terence, a bath toy crocodile in ''

Rubbadubbers ''Rubbadubbers'' is a British stop-motion children's television series produced by HIT Entertainment, with animation production by Hot Animation. The series was broadcast in the UK on BBC2 and CBeebies from 2 September 2002 to 14 February 2005. ...

'' * Terence (Terry) Morris, a character in the ''

X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to May 19, 2002, on Fox, spanning nine seasons, with 202 episodes. A tenth season of six e ...

'' TV series, episodes "Dreamland" and "Dreamland II" * Terence Fletcher, the main antagonist of the 2014 film '' Whiplash'' * Sir Terrance Henry Stoot, one half of Terrance and Phillip, a duo of characters in the animated TV series, ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

'' * Terrence (Terry) McGinnis, the main character of ''

Batman Beyond ''Batman Beyond'' (also known as ''Batman of the Future'' in Europe) is an American superhero animated television series based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, and serving as the sequel to both '' Batman: The Animated Series'' and '' The New Ba ...

'' * Terrence, Mac's older brother, in ''

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'' is an American animated television series created by Craig McCracken for Cartoon Network. It was produced by Cartoon Network Studios as the network's first show animated primarily with Adobe Flash, whic ...

Notable people with this name

Fictional characters

See also