Monica
A feminine name derived from the Greek monos meaning "alone".
Name Census estimates that about 218,861 living Americans carry the first name Monica. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Monica today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Monica births was 1979 (6,619 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Monica. 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 Monica with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Monica is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 983 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1970s, recent registration numbers for Monica have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
219K
~ 1 in 1,566 Americans
Peak year
1979
6,619 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2004 SSA rank
#726
Tracked since 1880
Census
Monica in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 264,970 people with the first name Monica, which placed it at #203 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
#203
National first-name rank
People counted
265K
264,970 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
87.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
41.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Monica
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Monica is Hispanic at 41.6%. The next largest groups are White (38.3%) and Black (13.2%). 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 Monica 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 Monica at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino41.6% · 110,294
- White38.3% · 101,538
- Black or African American13.2% · 35,033
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 10,241
- Two or more races2.3% · 6,197
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1,667
Gender
Gender distribution for Monica
Out of the 251,883 babies given the name Monica since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Monica as a male name
- Ranked #7,970 in 2004
- 9 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1980 (43 births)
Monica as a female name
- Ranked #726 in 2024
- 388 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1979 (6,585 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Monica appears almost entirely female. Of the 264,966 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Monica: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Monica from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 62,006 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Monica 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 Monica during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Monicas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Monica, while New Hampshire, Vermont, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,853 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Monica
The name Monica is derived from the Greek word "monos" meaning "alone" or "unique." It has its roots in ancient Greek culture, dating back to the 5th century BC. In Greek mythology, it was the name of an attendant of the goddess Persephone.
Monica was a relatively uncommon name during ancient Roman times, but it gained more prominence in the early Christian era. St. Monica, who lived in the 4th century AD, was the mother of the influential philosopher and theologian St. Augustine. Her devotion and prayers for her son's spiritual conversion are celebrated in Christian tradition.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Monica appears in the 6th century AD, in the writings of the Venerable Bede, an English monk and scholar. He mentioned a nun named Monica who lived in a monastery in Streaneshalch (now Whitby, England).
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Monica was occasionally used in various European regions, particularly in Italy and Spain. In the 14th century, Monica di Prato, an Italian mystic and Dominican tertiary, was a notable figure who bore this name.
During the Renaissance period, Monica Rambouillet (1588-1665) was a French salonnière and influential figure in the literary and intellectual circles of Paris. Her salon, known as the Chambre Bleue, attracted many prominent writers and thinkers of the time.
In the 19th century, Monica Pitt (1819-1903) was an English author and translator who wrote several influential works on education and women's issues.
Another notable Monica from the 20th century was Monica Seles (born 1973), a former professional tennis player from Yugoslavia (now Serbia). She was a dominant force in women's tennis in the early 1990s, winning nine Grand Slam singles titles.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have carried the name Monica, reflecting its enduring presence across different cultures and time periods.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Monica
People
Monica + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Monica 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
Monica: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Monica?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 218,861 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Monica 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 1,566 US residents.
Is Monica a common name?
We classify Monica as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 251,883 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Monica most popular?
The single biggest year for Monica was 1979, when 6,619 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Monica is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Monica in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 264,970 people with the name Monica, or 87.73 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #203 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 Monica 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 Monica?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Monica appears almost entirely female. Of the 264,966 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Monica?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Monica is Hispanic at 41.6%. The next largest groups are White (38.3%) and Black (13.2%). 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 Monica most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Monica in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.6% (110,294 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 Monica in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Monica a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Monica 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 Monica still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Monica 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 Monica 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 share the name Monica?
Find out how many people share the name Monica on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.