Manya
A feminine name of Russian origin meaning "wished for child".
Name Census estimates that about 903 living Americans carry the first name Manya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Manya today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Manya births was 2012 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Manya. 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 Manya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
903
~ 1 in 379,573 Americans
Peak year
2012
41 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,529
Tracked since 1917
Census
Manya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,266 people with the first name Manya, which placed it at #10,504 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
#10,504
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,266 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Manya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manya is White at 45.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (36.7%) and Black (12.2%). 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 Manya 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 Manya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.8% · 580
- Asian and Pacific Islander36.7% · 464
- Black or African American12.2% · 155
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 32
- Two or more races2.2% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 7
Popularity
Manya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Manya from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 250 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Manya 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 Manya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Manyas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New Jersey, New York recorded the most babies named Manya, while Texas, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Manya
The name Manya is a female given name with origins in several languages and cultures. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "manya," meaning "worthy of honor" or "respectable." In Hindi, the name is pronounced "munn-yaa" and is often used as a diminutive form of the name Manisha.
In Russian, the name Manya is a diminutive form of the name Maria, which is derived from the Hebrew name Miryam. It is also used as a diminutive form of the name Marina in some Slavic countries. The name has been in use in Russia since at least the 19th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Manya is in the ancient Indian epic poem, the Mahabharata, where it is mentioned as the name of a princess. In the Jewish tradition, there is a reference to a woman named Manya in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Manya. One of the earliest was Manya Shochat (1879-1961), a Russian-born Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Another notable figure was Manya Sklodowska (1867-1939), the mother of Marie Curie, the famous physicist and chemist.
In the world of literature, Manya Shohat (1880-1961) was a prominent Hebrew writer and educator, known for her contributions to children's literature in Israel. Manya Wilbor-Topaz (1894-1978) was a Polish-born American poet and translator, renowned for her translations of Yiddish literature.
In the realm of the arts, Manya Unielider (1886-1971) was a Russian-born American painter and sculptor, known for her modernist works. Manya Baysman (1924-2014) was a prominent Israeli writer and actress, who made significant contributions to the Israeli theater scene.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals who have borne the name Manya throughout history, spanning various fields and cultures.
People
Manya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Manya 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
Manya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Manya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 903 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Manya 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 379,573 US residents.
Is Manya a common name?
We classify Manya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,013 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Manya most popular?
The single biggest year for Manya was 2012, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Manya is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Manya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,266 people with the name Manya, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,504 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 Manya 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 Manya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Manya leans strongly female. 1,245 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 14 male bearers (1.1%). 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 Manya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manya is White at 45.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (36.7%) and Black (12.2%). 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 Manya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Manya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.8% (580 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 Manya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Manya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Manya 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 Manya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Manya 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 Manya 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 share the name Manya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.