Menno
Menno is a masculine given name of German origin meaning "firm, steadfast".
Name Census estimates that about 1,048 living Americans carry the first name Menno. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Menno today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Menno births was 2021 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Menno. 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.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 327,056 Americans
Peak year
2021
33 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,650
Tracked since 1896
Census
Menno in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,074 people with the first name Menno, which placed it at #11,785 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
#11,785
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,074 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
98.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Menno
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Menno is White at 98.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (0.9%) and Hispanic (0.7%). 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 Menno 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 Menno at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White98.0% · 1,052
- Two or more races0.9% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Menno: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Menno from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 193 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Menno remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Menno 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 Menno during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mennos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio recorded the most babies named Menno, while Kansas, Missouri, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 58 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Menno
The given name Menno originated from the Low German language and culture, with its roots traced back to the 16th century. It is derived from the Germanic name Menno, which itself is a shortened form of the longer name Menold or Meginold. These names are composed of the Germanic elements "magan" (meaning strength or power) and "wald" (meaning to rule or govern).
One of the earliest and most famous historical references to the name Menno is found in the figure of Menno Simons (1496-1561), a Dutch Catholic priest who became an influential leader of the Anabaptist movement during the Protestant Reformation. He is considered the founder of the Mennonite Christian denomination, which was named after him.
Another notable figure bearing the name Menno was Menno Ter Braak (1902-1940), a Dutch author, polemicist, and cultural critic who played a significant role in the literary and intellectual circles of the Netherlands during the early 20th century. He was a prominent voice in the opposition to the rise of fascism and Nazism in Europe.
In the realm of sports, Menno Oosting (1964-) was a successful Dutch speed skater who won multiple medals, including a gold medal in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, for the 5000m event.
The name Menno also appears in the field of science, with Menno van Coehoorn (1641-1704), a Dutch military engineer and mathematician who made significant contributions to the development of fortifications and ballistic theories during the 17th century.
Lastly, Menno Snel (1936-1994) was a Dutch actor and director who gained recognition for his work in both theater and film, particularly in the Netherlands and Belgium.
People
Menno + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Menno 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
Menno: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Menno?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,048 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Menno 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 327,056 US residents.
Is Menno a common name?
We classify Menno as "Rare". It ranks above 90.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,415 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Menno most popular?
The single biggest year for Menno was 2021, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Menno 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 Menno in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,074 people with the name Menno, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,785 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 Menno 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 Menno?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Menno appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,076 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Menno?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Menno is White at 98.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (0.9%) and Hispanic (0.7%). 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 Menno most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Menno in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.0% (1,052 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 Menno in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Menno a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Menno 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 Menno still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Menno 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 Menno 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 Menno?
Find out how many people have the name Menno on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.