Monay
A feminine name of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Latin words meaning "advise" or "warn".
Name Census estimates that about 512 living Americans carry the first name Monay. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Monay today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Monay births was 1996 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Monay. 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 Monay with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
512
~ 1 in 669,442 Americans
Peak year
1996
36 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2018 SSA rank
#17,381
Tracked since 1982
Census
Monay in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 495 people with the first name Monay, which placed it at #20,757 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
#20,757
National first-name rank
People counted
495
495 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
81.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Monay
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Monay is Black at 81.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.1%) and Two or More Races (6.5%). 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 Monay 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 Monay at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American81.4% · 403
- Hispanic or Latino7.1% · 35
- Two or more races6.5% · 32
- White4.2% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Monay: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Monay from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 239 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
Monay 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 Monay during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Monays live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Monay, while Illinois, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Monay
The name Monay originates from the ancient Gaulish language spoken by Celtic tribes in what is now modern-day France, Belgium, and parts of the Netherlands during the Iron Age period (800 BC to 50 BC). It is derived from the Proto-Celtic root word *mon-īko, which means "unique" or "solitary."
In the early medieval period, the name was recorded in various forms such as Monicus, Monikus, and Monacus among the Franks and other Germanic tribes that inhabited the regions of Gaul after the fall of the Roman Empire. It is likely that the name was adopted and adapted by these tribes from the local Gaulish population.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Monay was Monicus of Nantes, a Frankish monk and hagiographer who lived in the 9th century AD. He is best known for his biography of Saint Benedictus of Aniane, a prominent Benedictine reformer and close advisor to the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious.
In the 11th century, a notable bearer of the name was Monay of Arles, a Provençal troubadour and poet who composed several lyrical works in the Occitan language. His poems were widely circulated and influential in the development of courtly love literature during the High Middle Ages.
During the Renaissance period, Monay Dufour (1510-1572) was a French Protestant reformer and theologian from Geneva. He was a close associate of John Calvin and played a significant role in the spread of Calvinism throughout Europe.
In the 18th century, Monay Delisle (1720-1786) was a French explorer and cartographer who is best known for his contributions to the mapping of North America, particularly the Mississippi River basin and the Great Lakes region.
Another notable figure was Monay Descartes (1796-1872), a French philosopher and mathematician who is regarded as one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution and the development of modern Western philosophy. He is famous for his philosophical statement, "I think, therefore I am" (Cogito, ergo sum).
People
Monay + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Monay 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
Monay: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Monay?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 512 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Monay 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 669,442 US residents.
Is Monay a common name?
We classify Monay as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 526 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Monay most popular?
The single biggest year for Monay was 1996, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Monay is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Monay in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 495 people with the name Monay, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,757 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 Monay 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 Monay?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Monay leans strongly female. 492 people counted with this name were female (99.0%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.0%). 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 Monay?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Monay is Black at 81.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.1%) and Two or More Races (6.5%). 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 Monay most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Monay in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.4% (403 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 Monay in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Monay a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Monay 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 Monay still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Monay 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 Monay 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 called Monay?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.