Minor
A unisex name of Latin origin signifying "younger" or "smaller".
Name Census estimates that about 521 living Americans carry the first name Minor. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Minor today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Minor births was 1923 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Minor. 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
521
~ 1 in 657,878 Americans
Peak year
1923
45 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2015 SSA rank
#4,864
Tracked since 1880
Census
Minor in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,111 people with the first name Minor, which placed it at #4,504 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
#4,504
National first-name rank
People counted
4.1K
4,111 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Minor
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Minor is White at 42.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.6%) and Black (14.4%). 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 Minor 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 Minor at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.9% · 1,764
- Hispanic or Latino34.6% · 1,422
- Black or African American14.4% · 593
- Two or more races3.8% · 157
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 121
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 54
Gender
Gender distribution for Minor
Out of the 1,740 babies given the name Minor since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Minor as a male name
- Ranked #13,398 in 2015
- 5 male births in 2015
- Peak: 1920 (42 births)
Minor as a female name
- Ranked #4,864 in 1924
- 6 female births in 1924
- Peak: 1923 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Minor on both sides of the split. Of the 4,110 people counted with this name, 2,609 were male (63.5%) and 1,501 were female (36.5%).
Popularity
Minor: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Minor from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 345 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Minor 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 Minor during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Minors live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Virginia, Kentucky, Texas recorded the most babies named Minor, while Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Minor
The name Minor is derived from the Latin word "minor," which means "smaller" or "lesser." Its origin can be traced back to ancient Rome, where it was used as a term to describe someone or something that was smaller in size, importance, or rank.
Minor was initially used as a descriptor or an adjective, but over time, it evolved into a given name, particularly in English-speaking countries. The earliest recorded uses of Minor as a first name date back to the 17th century, although it was relatively uncommon during that period.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Minor was Minor Meriwether (1638-1705), an English colonist and landowner who settled in Virginia. Another early example is Minor Winslow (1693-1755), a member of the influential Winslow family in colonial Massachusetts.
In the 19th century, Minor became more widely adopted as a given name, particularly in the United States. Some notable individuals with this first name include:
1. Minor Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809), an American explorer best known for leading the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the newly acquired western territories of the United States.
2. Minor Cooper Keith (1848-1929), an American lawyer and politician who served as the 27th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1903 to 1907.
3. Minor Candler White (1857-1938), an American businessman and co-founder of the White Provision Company, which later became a part of Armour and Company.
4. Minor Cooper Keith (1884-1963), an American businessman and philanthropist who served as the president of the Southern Railway Company from 1920 to 1951.
5. Minor Wisdom (1904-1965), an American jazz pianist and composer who was active in the Chicago jazz scene during the 1920s and 1930s.
While Minor was never an extremely popular name, it has maintained a consistent presence throughout history, particularly in the United States. Its unique sound and intriguing Latin origins have likely contributed to its enduring appeal as a given name.
People
Minor + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Minor 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
Minor: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Minor?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 521 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Minor 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 657,878 US residents.
Is Minor a common name?
We classify Minor as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,740 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Minor most popular?
The single biggest year for Minor was 1923, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Minor is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Minor in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,111 people with the name Minor, or 1.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,504 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 Minor 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 Minor?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Minor on both sides of the split. Of the 4,110 people counted with this name, 2,609 were male (63.5%) and 1,501 were female (36.5%). 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 Minor?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Minor is White at 42.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (34.6%) and Black (14.4%). 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 Minor most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Minor in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.9% (1,764 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 Minor in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Minor a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Minor 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 Minor still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Minor 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 Minor 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 have Minor as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Minor on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.