Monna
A feminine given name meaning "gentle" or "dear", of Old Italian origin.
Name Census estimates that about 477 living Americans carry the first name Monna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Monna today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Monna births was 1933 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Monna. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Monna is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Monnas were born before 1961.
People living today
477
~ 1 in 718,563 Americans
Peak year
1933
53 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1972 SSA rank
#9,141
Tracked since 1899
Popularity
Monna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Monna from the 1890s through to the 1970s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 395 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Monna 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 Monna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Monnas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Monna, while Texas, Minnesota, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Monna
The name Monna is believed to have its origins in the Italian language, originating from the Latin word "monachus" meaning "monk" or "monastic." It is thought to have been used as a nickname or diminutive form of names derived from this root, such as Mona or Monica.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Monna can be found in the works of the Italian poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri, who lived from 1265 to 1321. In his literary masterpiece, the Divine Comedy, Dante refers to a character named Monna Berta, suggesting that the name was in use during the 13th and 14th centuries in Italy.
In the 15th century, the name Monna gained further prominence through its association with the Italian Renaissance painter Monna Vanna, also known as Giovanna Tornabuoni. She was the wife of the wealthy Florentine banker and art patron, Giovanni Tornabuoni, and was immortalized in a famous portrait painted by the renowned artist Domenico Ghirlandaio around 1488.
Another notable figure bearing the name Monna was Monna Tessa, an Italian painter who lived in the 16th century. She was one of the few female artists of her time and is best known for her religious paintings and portraits commissioned by churches and wealthy patrons in Florence and Siena.
In the field of literature, the name Monna is associated with the Italian writer and poet Monna Innominata, whose real name was Christina Rossetti. Born in 1830, she was a member of the famous Rossetti family and is regarded as one of the most influential poets of the Victorian era.
Moving beyond Italy, the name Monna also found its way into other European languages and cultures. In the 17th century, there was a Dutch painter named Monna Kessel, who was known for her still-life paintings and portraits. She lived and worked in Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age of painting.
While the name Monna has its roots in Italian and Latin, it has been adopted and adapted by various cultures and languages over the centuries, lending it a rich and diverse historical tapestry.
People
Monna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Monna 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
Monna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Monna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 477 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Monna 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 718,563 US residents.
Is Monna a common name?
We classify Monna as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,385 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Monna most popular?
The single biggest year for Monna was 1933, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Monna is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Monna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Monna 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.
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.