Manuella
A feminine given name of Latin origin meaning "from Emmanuel" or "God is with us".
Name Census estimates that about 431 living Americans carry the first name Manuella. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Manuella today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Manuella births was 2019 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Manuella. 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 Manuella with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
431
~ 1 in 795,254 Americans
Peak year
2019
23 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,290
Tracked since 1916
Census
Manuella in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 783 people with the first name Manuella, which placed it at #14,879 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
#14,879
National first-name rank
People counted
783
783 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
34.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Manuella
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manuella is White at 34.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.8%) and Black (28.4%). 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 Manuella 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 Manuella at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White34.6% · 271
- Hispanic or Latino32.8% · 257
- Black or African American28.4% · 222
- Two or more races2.2% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 7
Popularity
Manuella: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Manuella from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 157 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Manuella remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Manuella 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 Manuella during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Manuellas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Florida, Massachusetts, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Manuella, while Texas, Louisiana, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Manuella
The name Manuella has its origins in the Latin language and culture, tracing back to the ancient Roman period. It is a feminine form of the Latin name "Manlius," which was derived from the Latin word "manus," meaning hand. The root of the name is believed to have originated from an ancient Roman family name or surname.
In the early centuries of the Roman Empire, the name Manlius was borne by several notable individuals, including Lucius Manlius Capitolinus, a Roman consul and military leader who played a crucial role in defending Rome against the Gauls in the 4th century BC. Another prominent figure was Marcus Manlius Valerius, a Roman statesman and general who served as a consul in the 3rd century BC.
As the Roman Empire expanded and Latin culture spread across Europe, the name Manuella emerged as a feminine variant of Manlius. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Manuella can be found in the 11th century, when it was used by a noble woman in the Kingdom of León, located in present-day Spain.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Manuella gained popularity among various European noble families, particularly in Italy, France, and Spain. It was often associated with women from aristocratic or noble backgrounds. One notable figure was Manuella of Castile (c. 1180-1238), a Spanish noblewoman who served as the Queen consort of Portugal through her marriage to King Sancho I.
In the Renaissance period, the name Manuella continued to be used across Europe, often appearing in historical records and literary works. One prominent example is Manuella Donati (c. 1537-1597), an Italian poet and writer who was renowned for her literary contributions during the late Renaissance era.
As time passed, the name Manuella spread to other parts of the world, including Latin America, where it gained popularity among Spanish and Portuguese settlers. One notable bearer of the name was Manuella Beatriz da Silva (1794-1854), a Brazilian writer and educator who played a significant role in promoting women's education in her country.
Another remarkable figure was Manuella Gomes Moreira (1871-1952), a Brazilian journalist and activist who campaigned for women's rights and social reforms in the early 20th century.
In more recent times, the name Manuella has been adopted across various cultures and regions, though its Latin roots and historical associations remain prominent. Notable bearers include Manuella Adrait (b. 1953), a French actress known for her work in theatre and film, and Manuella Gretkowska (b. 1964), a Polish writer and journalist who has published several novels and short story collections.
People
Manuella + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Manuella 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
Manuella: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Manuella?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 431 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Manuella 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 795,254 US residents.
Is Manuella a common name?
We classify Manuella as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 625 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Manuella most popular?
The single biggest year for Manuella was 2019, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Manuella is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Manuella in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 783 people with the name Manuella, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,879 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 Manuella 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 Manuella?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Manuella leans strongly female. 785 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 10 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Manuella?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manuella is White at 34.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.8%) and Black (28.4%). 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 Manuella most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Manuella in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.6% (271 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 Manuella in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Manuella a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Manuella in the SSA data are female. 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 Manuella still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Manuella 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 Manuella 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 are named Manuella?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Manuella, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.