Manu
A masculine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "thinker" or "man".
Name Census estimates that about 667 living Americans carry the first name Manu. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Manu today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Manu births was 2006 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Manu. 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 Manu with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
667
~ 1 in 513,875 Americans
Peak year
2006
27 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,352
Tracked since 1972
Census
Manu in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,919 people with the first name Manu, which placed it at #7,783 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
#7,783
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,919 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
76.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Manu
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manu is Asian/Pacific Islander at 76.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.1%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Manu 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 Manu at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander76.7% · 1,471
- Hispanic or Latino7.1% · 137
- Black or African American5.5% · 105
- Two or more races5.2% · 100
- White4.6% · 89
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Manu
Out of the 682 babies given the name Manu since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Manu as a male name
- Ranked #5,352 in 2024
- 18 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (27 births)
Manu as a female name
- Ranked #14,923 in 1996
- 5 female births in 1996
- Peak: 1996 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Manu leans strongly male. 1,550 people counted with this name were male (81.3%), compared with 356 female bearers (18.7%).
Popularity
Manu: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Manu from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 177 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Manu remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Manu 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 Manu during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Manus live
Origin
Meaning and history of Manu
The name Manu has its origins in ancient Sanskrit, one of the oldest languages in the world, dating back to around the 2nd millennium BCE. In Sanskrit, the word "Manu" means "the forefather of humankind" or "the first man". It is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit root "man", which means "to think".
Manu is a prominent figure in Hindu mythology and is mentioned in several ancient texts, including the Vedas and the Puranas. According to Hindu scriptures, Manu was the progenitor of the human race and the first king to rule over the earth after the great flood. He is revered as a lawgiver and the author of the Manusmriti, an ancient legal text that codified the laws and social norms of ancient Indian society.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Manu can be found in the Rigveda, one of the oldest and most sacred Hindu scriptures, which dates back to around 1500-1200 BCE. The Rigveda mentions Manu as the son of Vivasvat, the sun god, and the father of the human race.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Manu. One of the most famous was Manu Needhi, an Indian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 5th century CE. He is credited with writing the Manu Samhita, a treatise on astronomy and astrology.
Another prominent figure with the name Manu was Manu Chao, a French singer-songwriter of Spanish descent, born in 1961. He is known for his fusion of various musical genres, including reggae, ska, and Latin folk.
In ancient Egyptian mythology, there was a figure known as Manu-Hotep, who was believed to be the first king of Egypt and the founder of the city of Memphis. He is often associated with the god Ra and is believed to have lived around 3100 BCE.
Manu Ginobili, an Argentine professional basketball player, born in 1977, is another notable individual with this name. He played for the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA and won four NBA championships with the team.
Manu Samoa is the name given to the national rugby union team of Samoa. The name is a nod to the country's cultural heritage and the revered figure of Manu in Polynesian mythology.
People
Manu + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Manu 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
Manu: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Manu?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 667 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Manu 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 513,875 US residents.
Is Manu a common name?
We classify Manu as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 682 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Manu most popular?
The single biggest year for Manu was 2006, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Manu is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Manu in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,919 people with the name Manu, or 0.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,783 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 Manu 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 Manu?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Manu leans strongly male. 1,550 people counted with this name were male (81.3%), compared with 356 female bearers (18.7%). 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 Manu?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manu is Asian/Pacific Islander at 76.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.1%) and Black (5.5%). 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 Manu most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Manu in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.7% (1,471 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 Manu in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Manu a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Manu 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 Manu still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Manu 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 Manu 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 Manu?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Manu, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.