Monserrat
A feminine Spanish name meaning "mountain range" or "jagged mountain".
Name Census estimates that about 7,843 living Americans carry the first name Monserrat. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Monserrat today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Monserrat births was 2014 (498 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Monserrat. 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
- • Monserrat is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
7.8K
~ 1 in 43,702 Americans
Peak year
2014
498 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2004 SSA rank
#1,300
Tracked since 1980
Census
Monserrat in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,887 people with the first name Monserrat, which placed it at #3,161 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
#3,161
National first-name rank
People counted
6.9K
6,887 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
97.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Monserrat
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Monserrat is Hispanic at 97.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.8%). 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 Monserrat 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 Monserrat at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino97.6% · 6,719
- White1.3% · 90
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 58
- Black or African American0.2% · 11
- Two or more races0.1% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Monserrat
Out of the 7,946 babies given the name Monserrat since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Monserrat as a male name
- Ranked #12,595 in 2004
- 5 male births in 2004
- Peak: 2000 (8 births)
Monserrat as a female name
- Ranked #1,300 in 2024
- 177 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (498 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Monserrat leans strongly female. 6,746 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 142 male bearers (2.1%).
Popularity
Monserrat: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Monserrat from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 3,687 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Monserrat 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 Monserrat during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Monserrats live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Monserrat, while Utah, Ohio, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 232 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Monserrat
The name Monserrat has its origins in the Catalan language, spoken in parts of eastern Spain and the Balearic Islands. It derives from the name of the Monastery of Montserrat, a Benedictine abbey located in Catalonia, Spain, near Barcelona.
The name Montserrat comes from the Latin "Mons Serratus," meaning "serrated mountain." This refers to the unique, jagged rock formations found in the mountain range where the monastery is situated. The monastery, founded in the 11th century, became a popular pilgrimage site and played a significant role in the history and culture of the region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Monserrat dates back to the 13th century, when it was used to refer to a woman named Monserrat de Castellbell, who lived in the area near the monastery. Over time, the name gained popularity and spread beyond the Catalan region.
In the 16th century, Monserrat Isern was a notable Catalan painter and engraver. She was born in Barcelona in 1570 and is recognized for her contributions to the artistic traditions of the region.
Another notable figure with the name Monserrat was the 17th-century Spanish Catholic nun and mystic, Monserrat del Rosario. Born in Madrid in 1627, she was known for her religious devotion and her writings on spiritual matters.
In the 18th century, Monserrat Navarro was a Spanish painter from Valencia, active in the late 1700s. She was recognized for her religious paintings and works depicting scenes from everyday life.
During the 19th century, Monserrat Fontcuberta was a prominent Catalan architect and urban planner. He was born in Barcelona in 1836 and was responsible for designing several notable buildings and contributing to the city's urban development.
As the name Monserrat gained popularity in the Spanish-speaking world, it also made its way to other parts of Europe and the Americas. While the exact origins of the name can be traced back to the Catalan region and the Monastery of Montserrat, it has since taken on a broader cultural significance and continues to be used across various communities.
People
Monserrat + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Monserrat 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
Monserrat: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Monserrat?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,843 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Monserrat 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 43,702 US residents.
Is Monserrat a common name?
We classify Monserrat as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,946 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Monserrat most popular?
The single biggest year for Monserrat was 2014, when 498 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Monserrat is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Monserrat in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,887 people with the name Monserrat, or 2.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,161 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 Monserrat 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 Monserrat?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Monserrat leans strongly female. 6,746 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 142 male bearers (2.1%). 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 Monserrat?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Monserrat is Hispanic at 97.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.8%). 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 Monserrat most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Monserrat in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.6% (6,719 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 Monserrat in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Monserrat a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Monserrat 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 Monserrat still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Monserrat 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 Monserrat 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 Monserrat?
Find out how many people have the name Monserrat on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.