// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Maurice say to the cat? Purr-haps we'll meet.

Maurice
Pronunciation	UK: /ˈmɒrɪs/; US: /ˈmɔːrəs/
Gender	Male
Language	English, French
Origin
Languages	1. Latin; 2. Irish
Word/name	1. Mauricius, Mauritius; 2. Muirgheos
Derivation	1. Maurus; 2. muir + gus
Meaning	1. 'from 'Mauretania'; 2. 'sea choice'
Other names
Related names	Mārcis, Māris, Moritz, Maurizio, Mauro, Mauricio, Morris, Mauritius

Maurice is a traditionally masculine given name, also used as a surname. It originates as a French name derived from the Latin Mauritius or Mauricius and was subsequently used in other languages. Its popularity is due to Mauritius, a saint of the Theban Legion (died 287). Mauritius is otherwise attested as a given name of the Roman Empire period, in origin meaning "one from Mauretania", i.e. "the Moor".

Forms in other languages include: Latvian Māris, Spanish Mauricio, Portuguese Maurício, Italian Maurizio, Dutch Maurits, Greek Μαυρίκιος (Mavrikios), Russian Маврикий (Mavrikiy), German Moritz, Czech Mořic, English Morris. In the form Morris, it is also used as a secularized version of the Jewish name Moishe.^{[citation needed]}

Given name

Late Antiquity to Middle Ages

Saint Maurice also Moritz, Morris, or Mauritius (died 287), Roman legionnaire and Christian martyr
Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius novus Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor
Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), bishop of London, Lord Chancellor and Lord Keeper of England
Maurice of Carnoet (1117–1191), French abbot and saint
Maurice, Count of Oldenburg (fl. 1169–1211), count of Oldenburg
Mauritius (Dean of Armagh) (fl. 13th century), Irish cleric, Dean of Armagh 1238
Maurice of Inchaffray (14th century), Scottish bishop
Maurice Spata (14th to early 15th century), Albanian ruler of Arta from 1399 to 1414/15

Early Modern

Maurice, Elector of Saxony (1521–1553), German Saxon nobleman
Maurice, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (1551–1612), duke of Saxe-Lauenburg
Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel or Maurice the Learned (1572–1632), Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange (1567–1625), stadtholder of the Netherlands
Maurice of Savoy (1593–1657), prince of Savoy and a cardinal
Maurice, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz (1619–1681), duke of Saxe-Zeitz
Maurice of the Palatinate (1620–1652), Count Palatine of the Rhine
William Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen (1649–1691), prince of Nassau-Siegen

Modern

Maurice of Battenberg (1891–1914), prince of the Battenberg family and member of the British Royal Family
Maurice of the Netherlands (1843–1850), prince of Orange-Nassau
Maurice Anderson (born 1975), American football player
Maurice Bailey (died 2018), formerly missing person lost at sea
Maurice Baker (born 1979), American basketball player and coach
Maurice Banks (born 1983), American football coach
Maurice De Bevere (1923–2001), Belgian cartoonist
Maurice Binder (1918–1991), American film title designer
Maurice Blanchot (1907–2003), French writer, philosopher, and literary theorist
Maurice Bowra (1898–1971), English classical scholar and academic
Maurice de Bus (1907–1963), French sculptor
Maurice Riemer Calhoun, Sr., known as Riemer Calhoun (1909–1994), American politician
Maurice Chevalier, (1888–1972), French actor, singer and entertainer
Maurice Cole (disambiguation), several people
Maurice Cowling (1926–2005), British historian
Maurice Cox (born 1972), American basketball player
Maurice Crum (disambiguation), multiple people
Maurice Deligne (1861–1939), French politician
Maurice Denuzière (1926–2025), French journalist and writer
Maurice Duplessis (1890–1959), 16th Premier of Quebec, Canada
Maurice Duval (1869–1958), French general and aviator
Maurice Evans (disambiguation), multiple people
Maurice Fadel (1928–2009), Lebanese businessman and politician
Maurice Failevic (1933–2016), French film director
Maurice Ffrench (born 1998), American football player
Maurice Elwood Frump, known as Babe Frump (1901–1979), American football player
Maurice Gambier d'Hurigny (1912–2000), French sculptor
Maurice Gamelin (1872–1958), French general remembered for his unsuccessful command of the French military in 1940 during the Battle of France
Maurice Garin (1871–1957), French road bicycle racer
Maurice Gibb (1949–2003), British singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer
Maurice Godelier (born 1934), French anthropologist
Maurice Grau (1849–1907), Austrian-born American impresario
Maurice Greene (athlete), American sprinter
Maurice Grevisse (1895–1980), Belgian grammarian
Maurice A. Hartnett III (1927–2009), American jurist who served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Delaware
Maurice Heaton (1900–1990), Swiss-born American glass artist
Maurice Healy (campaigner) (1933–2020), British consumer campaigner
Maurice Howard, British art historian
Maurice Hurst Jr. (born 1995), American football player
Maurice Anthony Jayaweera, Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army 1969-1974
Maurice Jenks (1872-1946), 604th Lord Mayor of London
Maurice Kemp (born 1991), American basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Maurice LaMarche, Canadian actor
Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941), French novelist and writer
Maurice Leyland (1900–1967), English cricketer
Maurice Line (1928–2010), British library and information scientist
Maurice Meisner (1931–2012), historian of 20th century China
Maurice de Mel, Sri Lankan Sinhala army colonel
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961), French phenomenological philosopher
Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, birth name of Michael Caine, English actor
Maurice Ndour (born 1992), Senegalese basketball player for Hapoel Jerusalem of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Maurice O'Neill (Irish republican) (d. 1942), executed Irish Republican
Maurice Pelletier (1896–1971), Canadian politician
Maurice Pluskota (born 1992), German basketball player
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937), French Impressionist music composer and pianist
Maurice Richard (1921–2000), Canadian ice hockey player
Maurice Rioli (1957–2010), Australian football player
Maurice Roëves (1937–2020), English actor
Maurice Rozenthal (born 1975), French ice hockey player
Maurice Ruah (born 1971), Venezuelan tennis player
Maurice Sendak (1928–2012), American writer known for Where the Wild Things Are
Maurice K. Smith (1926–2020), New Zealand-born American architect
Maurice Salvador Sreshta (1872–1952), Postmaster General of Sri Lanka from 1923 to 1928
Maurice Stuckey (born 1990), German basketball player
Maurice Schwartz (1889–1960), Russian-born actor
Maurice Tornay (1910–1949), Swiss Catholic missionary
Maurice Tulloch (born 1969), British/Canadian businessman
Maurice Utrillo (1883–1955), French painter
Maurice Vellacott (born 1955), Canadian politician
Maurice Vinot (1888–1916), French film actor
Maurice de Vlaminck (1876–1958), French painter, one of the principals in the Fauve movement
Maurice Watson (born 1993), American basketball player for Maccabi Rishon LeZion of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Maurice Wilkins (1916–2004), New Zealand-born English physicist and molecular biologist, and Nobel Laureate

Fictional characters

Maurice, a character from the 1991 and 2017 films based on Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve's Beauty and the Beast.
Maurice, Samantha Steven's father in Bewitched.
Maurice, a monster character in the 1989 film Little Monsters
Maurice the gorilla, character in the 1990s American animated television series Raw Toonage, and it's spinoff series Marsupilami, voiced by Jim Cummings
Maurice Lalonde (Highlander character), character in the television program Highlander: The Series
Maurice Levy (The Wire), character in the television program The Wire
Maurice Moss, character from the British sitcom The IT Crowd
Rap Master Maurice, a character portrayed by artist Derek Erdman
Sonic Maurice Hedgehog, real name of Sonic the Hedgehog in the Archie Comics
Maurice Hall, protagonist in the book Maurice by E.M. Forster
Maurice Conchis from the novel 'The Magus' by John Fowles
Maurice Spender, a character from the film The Mouse on the Moon, portrayed by Terry-Thomas
Maurice a character from the novel 'Undersea Reincarnation' by calcroissant
Maurice, a virtuous orangutan who acts as adviser to the noble chimpanzee leader Caesar on Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War of the Planet of the Apes.
Maurice Minnifield, ex-astronaut, entrepreneur, and unofficial mayor of the fictional Cicely, Alaska in Northern Exposure.

Surname

Ann Maurice (born 1951), American interior designer and house stager, called "The House Doctor"
Arthur Bartlett Maurice (1873–1946), American editor of the Woodbridge (NJ) Register
Benoît Maurice (born 1971), French football central defender
Charles G. Maurice (1911–1997), American teacher of dentistry and pioneer of endodontics
Clément Maurice (1853–1933), French photographer
David Maurice (1626–1702), Welsh priest and translator
David M. Maurice (1922–2002), British ophthalmologist
Emil Maurice (1897–1972), German watchmaker and senior Nazi Party official
Florian Maurice (born 1974), French footballer
Frederick Barton Maurice (1871–1951), British general, military correspondent, writer and academic
Frederick Denison Maurice (1805–1872), British author, theologian, and socialist
Henry Maurice (minister) (1634–1682), Welsh priest who became an Independent minister
Henry Maurice (theologian) (c. 1647 – 1691), Welsh clergyman and professor
Henry Gascoyne Maurice (1847–1950), English zoologist
Hugh Maurice (1775–1825), transcriber of Welsh manuscripts
James Maurice (1814–1884), American politician from New York
James Wilkes Maurice (1775–1857), United Kingdom Royal Navy officer
Jean-Eudes Maurice (born 1986), French-born Haitian footballer
John D. Maurice, American writer and Pulitzer Prize winner
John Frederick Maurice (1841–1912), English soldier and military writer
María Belén Pérez Maurice (born 1985), Argentine fencer
Mary Maurice (1844–1918), American actress
Mathias Maurice (1684–1738), Welsh minister and writer
Monica Maurice (1908–1995) industrialist, first, and for 40 years the only, woman member of the Association of Mining Electrical Engineers, known as "the Lady of the Lamp".
Paul Maurice (born 1967), Canadian hockey player and coach
Paule Maurice (1910–1967), French composer
Peter Maurice (priest) (1803–1878), Welsh priest and writer
Peter Maurice (bishop) (born 1951), English cleric – bishop of Taunton
Richard Maurice (1893– fl. 1951), Cuban-American filmmaker and labor organizer
Thomas Maurice (fl. 1755–1824), English poet oriental scholar, historian, chaplain and vicar
William Maurice (politician) (1552–1622), Welsh politician (an anglicization of his patronymic, ap Morys)
William Maurice (antiquary) (1620–1680), Welsh antiquary and collector of manuscripts

Notes

↑ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education. p. 495. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
↑ Hanks, Patrick; Hodges, Flavia (2003). A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. p. 231. ISBN 0-19-860764-4. Retrieved 26 April 2025 – via Internet Archive.

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[1] Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education. p. 495. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.

[2] Hanks, Patrick; Hodges, Flavia (2003). A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press. p. 231. ISBN 0-19-860764-4. Retrieved 26 April 2025 – via Internet Archive.

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