Mansa
A masculine name of Mandinka origin meaning "sultan" or "king".
Name Census estimates that about 291 living Americans carry the first name Mansa. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mansa today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mansa births was 2023 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mansa. 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 Mansa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
291
~ 1 in 1,177,850 Americans
Peak year
2023
34 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,804
Tracked since 1970
Census
Mansa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 268 people with the first name Mansa, which placed it at #31,773 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
#31,773
National first-name rank
People counted
268
268 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
69.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mansa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mansa is Black at 69.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (16.8%) and White (5.6%). 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 Mansa 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 Mansa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American69.0% · 185
- Asian and Pacific Islander16.8% · 45
- White5.6% · 15
- Two or more races4.9% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
Popularity
Mansa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mansa from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 144 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
Mansa 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 Mansa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mansas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Georgia, New York recorded the most babies named Mansa, while Texas, New York, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mansa
The name Mansa originates from the Mandinka language, spoken by the Mandinka people of West Africa. It derives from the word "mansa," which means "king" or "ruler." This name has its roots in the ancient Mali Empire, which flourished in the 13th to 17th centuries.
The Mali Empire was one of the largest and most influential empires in West African history. It was renowned for its wealth, generated through trade in gold and salt across the Sahara Desert. The Mandinka people were the ruling class of the empire, and their language became the lingua franca of the region.
One of the most famous rulers of the Mali Empire was Mansa Musa, who reigned from 1312 to 1337. He is renowned for his wealth and his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, during which he reportedly spent vast sums of gold, gaining widespread recognition and leaving a lasting impact on the economies of the regions he passed through.
Another notable figure with the name Mansa was Mansa Kankan Musa, who ruled the Songhai Empire in the late 15th century. He was a powerful ruler who expanded the empire's territory and strengthened its military.
In more recent times, Mansa Musa Keita was a Malian politician and diplomat who served as the first Prime Minister of Mali from 1960 to 1968, following the country's independence from France.
Mansa Idrissu was a renowned Ghanaian writer and academic, born in 1946. He made significant contributions to the field of African literature and was a pioneering voice in postcolonial studies.
Mansa P. Mussa was a prominent Zambian politician and diplomat, born in 1924. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and later as the Vice President of Zambia in the 1970s.
Throughout history, the name Mansa has been associated with leadership, power, and cultural significance, particularly in the West African region. Its connection to the Mali Empire and the Mandinka people has made it a name with deep historical roots and cultural resonance.
People
Mansa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mansa 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
Mansa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mansa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 291 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mansa 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 1,177,850 US residents.
Is Mansa a common name?
We classify Mansa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 295 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mansa most popular?
The single biggest year for Mansa was 2023, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mansa is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mansa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 268 people with the name Mansa, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,773 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 Mansa 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 Mansa?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mansa on both sides of the split. Of the 271 people counted with this name, 195 were male (72.0%) and 76 were female (28.0%). 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 Mansa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mansa is Black at 69.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (16.8%) and White (5.6%). 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 Mansa most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Mansa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.0% (185 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 Mansa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mansa a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mansa 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 Mansa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mansa 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 Mansa 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 Mansa?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.