Munroe
From Old French for "from the hill" or "from the manor".
Name Census estimates that about 12 living Americans carry the first name Munroe. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 72.2% of registrations being male. The average person named Munroe today is around 6 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Munroe births was 2021 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Munroe. 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 Munroe with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Munroe. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
12
~ 1 in 28,562,862 Americans
Peak year
2021
7 babies that year
Average age
6
years old
2021 SSA rank
#10,445
Tracked since 1925
Gender
Gender distribution for Munroe
Munroe is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 18 total registrations, 13 (72.2%) were male and 5 (27.8%) were female.
Munroe as a male name
- Ranked #10,445 in 2021
- 7 male births in 2021
- Peak: 2021 (7 births)
Munroe as a female name
- Ranked #16,981 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (5 births)
Popularity
Munroe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Munroe from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 12 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
Munroe 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 Munroe 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 Munroe
The given name Munroe has its origins in the Gaelic language and can be traced back to the Scottish Highlands during the medieval period. It is derived from the Gaelic words "muinn" meaning "hill" and "ròidh" meaning "promontory" or "headland", suggesting a connection to a geographical feature or location.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Munroe can be found in the 13th century Scottish Clan Munro, a Highland Scottish clan whose ancestral lands were located in Ross-shire. The name is believed to have been adopted by the clan's progenitor, Donald Munro, who lived around 1200 AD.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals bearing the first name Munroe. One of the most prominent was Munroe Doctrine, a 19th-century American politician and diplomat who served as the fifth President of the United States from 1817 to 1825. His foreign policy, known as the Monroe Doctrine, played a significant role in shaping the relationship between the United States and European powers in the Western Hemisphere.
Another historical figure was Munroe Erskine (1750-1825), a Scottish poet and songwriter who is best known for his contributions to the Scots Musical Museum, a collection of traditional Scottish songs compiled by James Johnson and Robert Burns.
In the field of literature, Munroe Cooper (1893-1976) was an American author and playwright who wrote several novels and plays, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "The Life and Death of a Patriarch" in 1957.
The name Munroe has also been associated with scientific achievements. Munroe Slichter (1861-1942) was an American mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to the study of elasticity and the theory of the Earth's interior.
Lastly, Munroe Pearson (1900-1981) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist who founded the Pearson Corporation, one of the world's largest educational publishing companies.
While these are just a few examples, the name Munroe has a rich history spanning various fields and cultures, with its origins deeply rooted in the Scottish Highlands and the Gaelic language.
People
Munroe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Munroe 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
Munroe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Munroe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Munroe 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 28,562,862 US residents.
Is Munroe a common name?
We classify Munroe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 32.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Munroe most popular?
The single biggest year for Munroe was 2021, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Munroe is about 6 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Munroe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Munroe a male name?
Yes, 72.2% of people registered as Munroe 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 Munroe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Munroe 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 Munroe 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Munroe?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.