Manfred
A masculine name derived from Old German elements meaning "man" and "peace".
Name Census estimates that about 846 living Americans carry the first name Manfred. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Manfred today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Manfred births was 1958 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Manfred. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Manfred with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
846
~ 1 in 405,147 Americans
Peak year
1958
37 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2022 SSA rank
#11,764
Tracked since 1904
Census
Manfred in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,075 people with the first name Manfred, which placed it at #5,543 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
#5,543
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,075 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Manfred
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manfred is White at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.8%) and Black (5.7%). 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 Manfred 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 Manfred at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.6% · 2,540
- Hispanic or Latino7.8% · 241
- Black or African American5.7% · 175
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 54
- Two or more races1.5% · 45
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 20
Popularity
Manfred: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Manfred from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 275 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Manfred 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 Manfred during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Manfreds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, Illinois, California recorded the most babies named Manfred, while New Jersey, Michigan, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Manfred
The name Manfred originated from the Germanic languages and is derived from the Old High German words "man" meaning "man" and "fridu" meaning "peace" or "protection." It is a compound name that can be translated to mean "man of peace" or "protector of man." The name has been in use since the Middle Ages and was particularly popular among the Germanic tribes and peoples of central and western Europe.
The earliest recorded use of the name Manfred dates back to the 8th century AD, when it appeared in various German chronicles and records. One of the most notable historical figures to bear this name was Manfred, the King of Sicily from 1258 to 1266. He was the illegitimate son of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, and played a significant role in the struggle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Italy during the 13th century.
Another famous Manfred was Manfred von Richthofen, known as the "Red Baron," who was a German fighter pilot during World War I. Born in 1892, he was one of the most successful and renowned aviators of the war, credited with 80 air combat victories before being shot down and killed in 1918.
In the world of literature, Manfred is the main character in Lord Byron's dramatic poem of the same name, published in 1817. The poem explores themes of guilt, remorse, and the supernatural, and is considered one of Byron's most influential works.
The name Manfred also appears in various religious and mythological contexts. In Norse mythology, Manfred is sometimes associated with the god Odin, as the name is thought to have been derived from the Old Norse name Manfréðr, which means "peace-lover" or "peace-maker."
Other notable historical figures named Manfred include Manfred Sakel (1900-1957), an Austrian psychiatrist who pioneered the use of insulin coma therapy for the treatment of schizophrenia, and Manfred von Richthofen (1855-1939), a German geographer and explorer who led expeditions to China and Central Asia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Overall, the name Manfred has a rich history spanning over a millennium, with roots in the Germanic languages and various cultural and historical associations throughout Europe and beyond.
People
Manfred + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Manfred 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
Manfred: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Manfred?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 846 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Manfred 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 405,147 US residents.
Is Manfred a common name?
We classify Manfred as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,455 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Manfred most popular?
The single biggest year for Manfred was 1958, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Manfred is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Manfred in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,075 people with the name Manfred, or 1.02 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,543 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 Manfred 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 Manfred?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Manfred appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,077 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Manfred?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manfred is White at 82.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.8%) and Black (5.7%). 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 Manfred most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Manfred in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.6% (2,540 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 Manfred in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Manfred a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Manfred 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 Manfred still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Manfred 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 Manfred 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 people have the name Manfred?
See how many people have the name Manfred on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.