Monya
A feminine name of Slavic origin meaning "solitary, alone".
Name Census estimates that about 528 living Americans carry the first name Monya. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Monya today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Monya births was 1970 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Monya. 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
528
~ 1 in 649,156 Americans
Peak year
1970
27 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2011 SSA rank
#18,696
Tracked since 1935
Census
Monya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 669 people with the first name Monya, which placed it at #16,743 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
#16,743
National first-name rank
People counted
669
669 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Monya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Monya is White at 51.3%. The next largest groups are Black (40.4%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Monya 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 Monya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.3% · 343
- Black or African American40.4% · 270
- Two or more races3.9% · 26
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 3
Popularity
Monya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Monya from the 1930s through to the 2010s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 182 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Monya 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 Monya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Monyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Monya
The name Monya originates from the Russian language and culture, with its earliest recorded use dating back to the 16th century. It is a diminutive form of the Russian name Mokrina, which itself is derived from the Greek name Maura, meaning "dark-skinned" or "dark-complexioned."
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Monya was Monya Mikhailovna Pryakhina, a Russian noblewoman who lived in the late 16th century. She was a prominent figure in the court of Tsar Fyodor I and played a significant role in the political intrigues of the era.
In the 17th century, another notable Monya was Monya Fedorovna Naryshkina, a Russian aristocrat and the second wife of Tsar Alexis I. She was instrumental in securing the throne for her son, Peter the Great, and served as his influential advisor during his early reign.
Monya Tsatskis (1875-1942) was a prominent Jewish writer and journalist from Ukraine. She was known for her works exploring themes of social injustice and the plight of women in Russian society. Tragically, she perished during the Holocaust.
Another historical figure with the name Monya was Monya Elson (1886-1948), a Russian-American artist and illustrator. She was particularly renowned for her illustrations in children's books and her depictions of Russian folklore and fairy tales.
Monya Ravan (born Monya Roberta Rambus in 1936) is an American singer and actress, best known for her involvement in the 1960s counterculture movement and her performances with the rock band Goldie and the Gingerbreads. She has had a long and influential career in the entertainment industry.
While the name Monya may have its roots in Russia, it has transcended cultural boundaries and found its way into various other languages and cultures over time, becoming a unique and distinctive name with a rich historical tapestry.
People
Monya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Monya 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
Monya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Monya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 528 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Monya 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 649,156 US residents.
Is Monya a common name?
We classify Monya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 663 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Monya most popular?
The single biggest year for Monya was 1970, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Monya is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Monya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 669 people with the name Monya, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,743 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 Monya 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 Monya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Monya leans strongly female. 614 people counted with this name were female (91.9%), compared with 54 male bearers (8.1%). 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 Monya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Monya is White at 51.3%. The next largest groups are Black (40.4%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Monya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Monya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.3% (343 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 Monya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Monya a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Monya 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 Monya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Monya 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 Monya 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 Monya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.