Minnah
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "granted" or "bestowed".
Name Census estimates that about 235 living Americans carry the first name Minnah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Minnah today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Minnah births was 2016 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Minnah. 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 Minnah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
235
~ 1 in 1,458,529 Americans
Peak year
2016
23 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2021 SSA rank
#11,836
Tracked since 2000
Popularity
Minnah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Minnah from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 146 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Minnah 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 Minnah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Minnahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Minnah
The given name Minnah is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language and culture. It is a variant spelling of the Arabic name Minna, which derives from the word "manna," meaning "grace" or "blessing" in Arabic.
The name Minnah has been in use for centuries, with its earliest recorded instances dating back to the medieval period in the Middle East and North Africa. It was a popular name among Muslim communities, often chosen for its positive connotations and religious significance.
In Islamic tradition, manna is mentioned in the Quran as the miraculous sustenance provided by God to the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt. As a result, the name Minnah has been associated with divine favor and blessings.
One of the earliest known historical figures bearing the name Minnah was Minnah bint Al-Walid, a prominent Arabian poet from the 7th century. She was renowned for her eloquence and her contributions to pre-Islamic poetry.
Another notable figure was Minnah al-Qazwiniyya, a 13th-century Islamic scholar and hadith expert from Qazvin, Persia (present-day Iran). She was known for her extensive knowledge of religious sciences and her role in preserving and transmitting hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad).
In the 14th century, Minnah bint Muhammad al-Qurashi was a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist from Damascus, Syria. She was celebrated for her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and her teachings in various fields, including hadith and Arabic literature.
During the Ottoman Empire, Minnah Sultan was a prominent figure in the 16th century. She was the daughter of Sultan Selim I and played a significant role in the cultural and intellectual life of the Ottoman court.
In more recent history, Minnah al-Qahtani was a Saudi Arabian poet and writer from the 20th century. She gained recognition for her poetry and her contributions to the literary scene in the Arabian Peninsula.
While the name Minnah has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures and regions over time, often with slight variations in spelling or pronunciation.
People
Minnah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Minnah 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
Minnah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Minnah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 235 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Minnah 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 1,458,529 US residents.
Is Minnah a common name?
We classify Minnah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 237 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Minnah most popular?
The single biggest year for Minnah was 2016, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Minnah is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Minnah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Minnah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Minnah 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 Minnah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Minnah 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 Minnah 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are called Minnah?
You can see how many Americans are named Minnah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.