Munib
An Arabic name meaning "elevated" or "honored".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Munib. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Munib today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Munib births was 1998 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Munib. 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 Munib with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Munib. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
1998
6 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2006 SSA rank
#13,391
Tracked since 1998
Census
Munib in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 178 people with the first name Munib, which placed it at #41,266 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
#41,266
National first-name rank
People counted
178
178 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Munib
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Munib is White at 52.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.8%) and Black (11.2%). 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 Munib 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 Munib at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.8% · 94
- Asian and Pacific Islander29.8% · 53
- Black or African American11.2% · 20
- Two or more races4.5% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1
Popularity
Munib: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Munib from the 1990s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Munib 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 Munib during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Munib
The name Munib has its origins in the Arabic language, tracing back to the Middle Ages in the regions of the Middle East and North Africa. It is derived from the Arabic root word "nawb," which means "to take turns" or "to alternate." Historically, the name was associated with individuals who were alternates or substitutes in various roles or positions.
Munib first appeared in historical records and literature during the Abbasid Caliphate, a prominent Islamic dynasty that ruled from 750 to 1258 CE. It was not an uncommon name among scholars, poets, and government officials during this era. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Munib was Al-Munib al-Kindi, a renowned Arabic philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 9th century CE.
In the realm of Islamic literature, the name Munib is mentioned in several famous works, including the "Mu'allaqat," a collection of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry. This suggests that the name had been in use even before the advent of Islam in the 7th century CE.
As Islam spread across various regions, the name Munib gained popularity among Muslims in different parts of the world. One notable historical figure bearing this name was Munib al-Husayni, a Palestinian Arab nationalist and politician who played a significant role in the struggle against British colonial rule in the early 20th century. He was born in 1888 and died in 1948.
Another prominent individual with the name Munib was Munib Masri, a Palestinian businessman and philanthropist who lived from 1910 to 1994. He was known for his contributions to economic development and charitable initiatives in the Middle East.
In the field of literature, Munib al-Razzaz was a celebrated Syrian novelist and playwright who lived from 1918 to 1971. His works explored themes of social justice and the complexities of Arab society.
Munib Younan, born in 1950, is a prominent religious figure who served as the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land from 1998 to 2017.
While the name Munib has its roots in the Arabic language, it has also been adopted and used in various cultures and communities around the world, particularly among those influenced by Islamic traditions and the Arabic language.
People
Munib + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Munib 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
Munib: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Munib?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Munib 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Munib a common name?
We classify Munib as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Munib most popular?
The single biggest year for Munib was 1998, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Munib is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Munib in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 178 people with the name Munib, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,266 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 Munib 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 Munib?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Munib leans strongly male. 172 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 2 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Munib?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Munib is White at 52.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.8%) and Black (11.2%). 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 Munib most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Munib in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.8% (94 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 Munib in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Munib a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Munib in the SSA data are male. 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 Munib still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Munib 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 Munib 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 common is the name Munib?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Munib at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.