Min
A feminine Korean name meaning "truth" or "intrepid".
Name Census estimates that about 615 living Americans carry the first name Min. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 61.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Min today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Min births was 1993 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Min. 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
615
~ 1 in 557,324 Americans
Peak year
1993
30 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2018 SSA rank
#10,380
Tracked since 1953
Gender
Gender distribution for Min
Min is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 638 total registrations, 395 (61.9%) were male and 243 (38.1%) were female.
Min as a male name
- Ranked #10,380 in 2018
- 7 male births in 2018
- Peak: 1994 (20 births)
Min as a female name
- Ranked #16,810 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1993 (17 births)
Popularity
Min: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Min from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 230 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Min 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 Min during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, Maryland recorded the most babies named Min, while Maryland, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Min
Min is a name with origins dating back to ancient times. It is believed to have originated from the Egyptian hieroglyphic word "mn", which means "to endure" or "to be firm". The name Min was associated with the ancient Egyptian deity Min, who was the god of fertility, vegetation, and male virility.
The name Min first appeared in written records around 3100 BC, during the Early Dynastic Period of ancient Egypt. It was a common name among the Egyptian nobility and ruling class, as Min was one of the most revered deities in the Egyptian pantheon. The cult of Min was centered in the city of Akhmim, where a temple dedicated to the god was located.
One of the earliest known references to the name Min can be found in the Pyramid Texts, a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary inscriptions dating back to around 2400 BC. These texts contain spells and incantations that were meant to assist the deceased pharaoh in their journey to the afterlife, and they frequently invoked the name of Min as a symbol of fertility and regeneration.
Throughout ancient Egyptian history, several notable individuals bore the name Min. One of the most famous was Min-Nakht, a high-ranking official who lived during the 18th Dynasty (c. 1550-1292 BC). Min-Nakht served as the governor of the important city of Thebes and oversaw the construction of many significant monuments, including his own elaborate tomb.
In ancient Greek mythology, there was a figure named Min who was associated with the god Pan. According to some accounts, Min was a son of Pan and a companion of the god in his wild revelries and adventures.
During the Hellenistic period, the name Min was also adopted by some Greeks and Romans, although it was not as common as in ancient Egypt. One notable example is Min of Mendes, a Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 3rd century BC and wrote extensively on the subjects of geometry and mechanics.
In more recent times, the name Min has been used by individuals from various cultural backgrounds, although it remains relatively uncommon. Some notable examples include Min Kush, a 13th-century Persian poet and mystic, and Min Liang Tan, the co-founder and CEO of the gaming hardware company Razer, who was born in Singapore in 1977.
People
Min + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Min 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
Min: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Min?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 615 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Min 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 557,324 US residents.
Is Min a common name?
We classify Min as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 638 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Min most popular?
The single biggest year for Min was 1993, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Min is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Min a male name?
Yes, 61.9% of people registered as Min 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.
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.