Maneesh
A masculine Indian name meaning "contemplation" or "reflection".
Name Census estimates that about 30 living Americans carry the first name Maneesh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Maneesh today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maneesh births was 1981 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maneesh. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Maneesh. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
30
~ 1 in 11,425,145 Americans
Peak year
1981
6 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1989 SSA rank
#7,563
Tracked since 1973
Census
Maneesh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 324 people with the first name Maneesh, which placed it at #27,953 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
#27,953
National first-name rank
People counted
324
324 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
93.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maneesh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maneesh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 93.5%. The next largest groups are White (3.7%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Maneesh 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 Maneesh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander93.5% · 303
- White3.7% · 12
- Two or more races1.9% · 6
- Black or African American0.6% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Maneesh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maneesh from the 1970s through to the 1980s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 17 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maneesh 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 Maneesh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Maneesh
The name Maneesh originates from Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language of South Asia. It is believed to have been derived from the Sanskrit word "Manisha," which means "intellect" or "wisdom." The name has its roots in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in the regions where Sanskrit was widely spoken.
Maneesh has been mentioned in various ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, including the Vedas and the Upanishads. These texts were composed between 1500 BCE and 500 BCE, suggesting that the name has a long-standing history in the Indian cultural tradition.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Maneesh can be found in the Rigveda, one of the oldest Hindu scriptures. The Rigveda contains hymns and prayers that were composed between 1500 BCE and 1000 BCE, indicating that the name was in use during this period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Maneesh. One of the most famous was Maneesh Pandey (1886-1972), an Indian freedom fighter and political activist who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule.
Another prominent figure was Maneesh Chandra Bhattacharya (1910-1992), a renowned Indian philosopher and scholar who made significant contributions to the field of Indian logic and epistemology. His works on Navya-Nyaya, a school of Hindu logic, are widely studied and respected.
In the realm of literature, Maneesh Banerjee (1923-2007) was a celebrated Bengali writer and poet. He was awarded the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1976 for his novel "Aranyer Din Ratri" (Days and Nights in the Forest).
Maneesh Sharma (born 1983) is a contemporary Indian film director and screenwriter, known for his work in Bollywood films such as "Band Baaja Baaraat" (2010) and "Shuddh Desi Romance" (2013).
Maneesh Agrawala (born 1977) is a computer scientist and researcher who has made significant contributions to the field of human-computer interaction. He is currently a professor at Stanford University and has been recognized for his work on computational photography and data visualization.
The name Maneesh has a rich history and cultural significance, rooted in the ancient Sanskrit language and Indian traditions. Its meaning, "intellect" or "wisdom," reflects the value placed on knowledge and wisdom in the Indian subcontinent.
People
Maneesh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maneesh 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
Maneesh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maneesh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 30 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maneesh 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 11,425,145 US residents.
Is Maneesh a common name?
We classify Maneesh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 46.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 32 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maneesh most popular?
The single biggest year for Maneesh was 1981, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maneesh is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maneesh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 324 people with the name Maneesh, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,953 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 Maneesh 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 Maneesh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maneesh leans strongly male. 320 people counted with this name were male (97.6%), compared with 8 female bearers (2.4%). 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 Maneesh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maneesh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 93.5%. The next largest groups are White (3.7%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). 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 Maneesh most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Maneesh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.5% (303 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 Maneesh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maneesh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maneesh 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 Maneesh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maneesh 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 Maneesh 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 many Americans are named Maneesh?
Want to know how many Americans are named Maneesh? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.