Moise
A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "drawn from the water".
Name Census estimates that about 717 living Americans carry the first name Moise. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Moise today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Moise births was 2023 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Moise. 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
717
~ 1 in 478,040 Americans
Peak year
2023
22 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,569
Tracked since 1902
Popularity
Moise: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Moise from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 151 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Moise remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Moise 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 Moise during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Moises live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, Louisiana, Florida recorded the most babies named Moise, while Florida, Louisiana, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 77 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Moise
The given name Moise is derived from the Hebrew name Moshe, which is a derivative of the Hebrew verb meaning "to pull out" or "to draw out." This name can be traced back to the Old Testament and the Book of Exodus, where it refers to the prophet Moses, who was drawn out of the Nile River as a baby.
Moise is the French form of the name Moses, and it has been in use in France and other French-speaking regions for centuries. The earliest recorded instance of the name Moise dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in French historical records.
In the Bible, Moses is a central figure in the story of the Exodus, where he leads the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and receives the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. As such, the name Moise has been a popular choice among Jewish and Christian communities throughout history.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Moise was Moise de Leon, a Spanish Kabbalist and writer who lived in the 13th century. He is best known for his work on the Zohar, a central text in Jewish mysticism.
Another prominent individual named Moise was Moise Amyraut, a French Protestant theologian and philosopher who lived in the 17th century. He was a leader of the Amyraldian school of thought, which sought to reconcile Calvinism with the idea of universal grace.
In the 19th century, Moise Froissart was a French painter and illustrator known for his Orientalist works depicting scenes from North Africa and the Middle East.
Moise Tshombe was a Congolese politician and leader who served as the first Prime Minister of the secessionist State of Katanga in the 1960s. He played a significant role in the political turmoil that followed the Congo's independence from Belgium.
Moise Kapenda Tshombe was a Congolese musician and bandleader who was influential in the development of Congolese rumba and soukous music in the 20th century.
People
Moise + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Moise 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
Moise: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Moise?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 717 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Moise 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 478,040 US residents.
Is Moise a common name?
We classify Moise as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 920 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Moise most popular?
The single biggest year for Moise was 2023, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Moise is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Moise a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Moise 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.