Manases
Hebrew name meaning "causing to forget".
Name Census estimates that about 221 living Americans carry the first name Manases. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Manases today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Manases births was 2019 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Manases. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
221
~ 1 in 1,550,925 Americans
Peak year
2019
15 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,792
Tracked since 1996
Census
Manases in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 278 people with the first name Manases, which placed it at #31,017 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#31,017
National first-name rank
People counted
278
278 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
93.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Manases
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manases is Hispanic at 93.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (2.9%) and White (1.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Manases described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Manases at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino93.5% · 260
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 8
- White1.8% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
- Two or more races0.7% · 2
- Black or African American0.4% · 1
Popularity
Manases: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Manases from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 102 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Manases remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Manases by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Manases during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Manases' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Manases
The given name Manases has its origins in Hebrew, derived from the Biblical figure Manasseh, one of the twelve tribes of Israel mentioned in the Old Testament. The name itself means "one who causes to forget" or "making to forget" in Hebrew.
In the Book of Genesis, Manasseh was the firstborn son of Joseph and his wife Asenath. Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers, rose to become a powerful figure in Egypt and named his son Manasseh, saying "God has made me forget all my troubles and my father's household." This reflects the meaning of the name, symbolizing the ability to move on from past hardships.
The name Manasseh appears frequently in the Bible, particularly in the Books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Chronicles, where it refers to the tribe descended from Joseph's son. The territory allotted to the tribe of Manasseh was located in what is now the West Bank and parts of modern-day Jordan.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Manases is found in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible, where it is rendered as Μανασσῆς (Manassēs). This form of the name was later adopted into Latin as Manasses.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Manases. One of the earliest was Manasseh, King of Judah, who reigned from around 687 to 642 BCE. He is known for initially promoting idolatry and pagan practices but later repenting and restoring the worship of God in Judah.
Another notable figure was Manasses I, King of Armenia, who ruled from 379 to 330 BCE. He is credited with establishing the Orontid Dynasty and expanding the Armenian Kingdom's territories.
In the 15th century, Manasses Elye, also known as Manasses ben Israel, was a renowned Jewish scholar and astronomer born in Portugal around 1497. He was influential in the establishment of the first Hebrew printing press in Constantinople.
Manasses Kamehl (1624-1697) was a German Lutheran theologian and writer who authored several works on theology and philosophy.
Finally, Manasses Semidas (1588-1663) was a Greek scholar and theologian who served as the Patriarch of Constantinople from 1644 to 1646 and again from 1652 to 1653.
People
Manases + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Manases as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Manases: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Manases?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 221 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Manases going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,550,925 US residents.
Is Manases a common name?
We classify Manases as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 223 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Manases most popular?
The single biggest year for Manases was 2019, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Manases is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Manases in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 278 people with the name Manases, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,017 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Manases in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Manases?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Manases leans strongly male. 270 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 6 female bearers (2.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Manases?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manases is Hispanic at 93.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (2.9%) and White (1.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Manases most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Manases in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.5% (260 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Manases in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Manases a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Manases in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Manases still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Manases in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Manases can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Manases?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.