Mena
An Egyptian name meaning "she who is enduring and timeless".
Name Census estimates that about 1,365 living Americans carry the first name Mena. It is a predominantly female name (90.3% of registrations). The average person named Mena today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mena births was 2008 (72 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mena. 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 Mena with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 251,102 Americans
Peak year
2008
72 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2016 SSA rank
#5,888
Tracked since 1880
Census
Mena in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,563 people with the first name Mena, which placed it at #6,292 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
#6,292
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,563 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mena
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mena is White at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.4%) and Black (11.0%). 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 Mena 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 Mena at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.6% · 1,578
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.4% · 317
- Black or African American11.0% · 282
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 217
- Two or more races5.9% · 152
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Mena
Mena leans heavily female at 90.3% of total registrations, but 161 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mena as a male name
- Ranked #10,371 in 2016
- 7 male births in 2016
- Peak: 1988 (16 births)
Mena as a female name
- Ranked #5,888 in 2024
- 21 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (65 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mena on both sides of the split. Of the 2,554 people counted with this name, 878 were male (34.4%) and 1,676 were female (65.6%).
Popularity
Mena: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mena from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 424 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
Mena 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 Mena during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Menas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, New York, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Mena, while Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mena
The name Mena has its origins in ancient Egypt, where it was derived from the Egyptian word "mn", meaning "established" or "enduring". It was a popular name among the pharaohs and nobility of ancient Egypt, reflecting the desire for longevity and stability.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mena is from the First Dynasty of Egypt, around 3100 BCE. Mena, also known as Narmer, was the first pharaoh to unite Upper and Lower Egypt, ushering in a period of political and cultural advancement. His name is mentioned in the Palermo Stone, an ancient Egyptian historical record, and his achievements are immortalized in various archaeological findings.
In ancient Egyptian mythology, Mena was also the name of a minor deity associated with fertility and regeneration. The name appears in some religious texts and inscriptions, reflecting its cultural significance.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Mena. One of the most famous was Menes (c. 3100 BCE), the legendary first pharaoh of a unified Egypt, who is believed to have founded the city of Memphis. Another notable figure was Menander (342-292 BCE), a Greek dramatist from Athens who was celebrated for his witty and insightful comedies.
In the realm of literature, Mena is the name of a character in the ancient Greek novel "An Ephesian Tale" by Xenophon of Ephesus (c. 2nd-3rd century CE). This work is considered one of the earliest examples of the novel genre in Western literature.
Moving forward in time, Mena Sardo (1489-1559) was an Italian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the development of Renaissance mathematics. He is particularly renowned for his work on algebraic equations and his efforts to popularize the use of symbolic notation in mathematics.
Additionally, Mena Massoud (born 1991) is a contemporary Egyptian-Canadian actor, best known for his portrayal of Aladdin in the 2019 live-action film of the same name. His portrayal of the iconic character has brought renewed attention to the name Mena in modern times.
People
Mena + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mena 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
Mena: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mena?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,365 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mena 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 251,102 US residents.
Is Mena a common name?
We classify Mena as "Rare". It ranks above 91.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,659 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mena most popular?
The single biggest year for Mena was 2008, when 72 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mena is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mena in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,563 people with the name Mena, or 0.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,292 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 Mena 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 Mena?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mena on both sides of the split. Of the 2,554 people counted with this name, 878 were male (34.4%) and 1,676 were female (65.6%). 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 Mena?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mena is White at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.4%) and Black (11.0%). 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 Mena most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mena in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.6% (1,578 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 Mena in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mena a female name?
Yes, 90.3% of people registered as Mena 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 Mena still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mena 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 Mena 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 common is the name Mena?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Mena at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.