Manford
A masculine name derived from the Old English elements "man" meaning man and "ford" meaning ford or crossing.
Name Census estimates that about 334 living Americans carry the first name Manford. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Manford today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Manford births was 1918 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Manford. 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
- • The typical person named Manford is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Manfords were born before 1960.
People living today
334
~ 1 in 1,026,211 Americans
Peak year
1918
49 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1982 SSA rank
#6,981
Tracked since 1880
Popularity
Manford: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Manford from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 382 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Manford 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 Manford during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Manfords live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri recorded the most babies named Manford, while Nebraska, North Carolina, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Manford
The name Manford is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "man" meaning "man" and "ford" meaning "a shallow place for crossing a river or stream." It is believed to have originated in the 10th or 11th century, during the Anglo-Saxon period in England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Manford can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land and property in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as a place name, suggesting that it was likely used as a personal name as well.
In the 12th century, a man named Manford de Calne was recorded as a landowner in Wiltshire, England. This is one of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Manford.
During the Middle Ages, the name Manford was relatively uncommon but still appeared in various records and texts. In the 14th century, a monk named Manford of Bury St. Edmunds was mentioned in the chronicles of the Benedictine abbey in Suffolk, England.
In the 16th century, a prominent figure named Manford Woodhouse was a merchant and alderman in the city of London. He was known for his contributions to the city's governance and trade activities.
Another notable person with the name Manford was Sir Manford Colville, an English nobleman and military commander who lived during the 17th century. He served as a Member of Parliament and fought in the English Civil War on the side of the Royalists.
As time passed, the name Manford became less common, though it continued to be used sporadically throughout various regions of England and, later, in other English-speaking countries.
People
Manford + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Manford 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
Manford: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Manford?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 334 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Manford 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 1,026,211 US residents.
Is Manford a common name?
We classify Manford as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,479 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Manford most popular?
The single biggest year for Manford was 1918, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Manford is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Manford a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Manford 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.
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.