Manda
A feminine given name of Sanskrit origin meaning "prosperous" or "fortunate".
Name Census estimates that about 1,898 living Americans carry the first name Manda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Manda today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Manda births was 1975 (102 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Manda. 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
1.9K
~ 1 in 180,587 Americans
Peak year
1975
102 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2016 SSA rank
#17,882
Tracked since 1880
Census
Manda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,258 people with the first name Manda, which placed it at #6,933 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
#6,933
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,258 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Manda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manda is White at 72.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.9%) and Black (7.5%). 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 Manda 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 Manda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.1% · 1,627
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.9% · 179
- Black or African American7.5% · 169
- Hispanic or Latino7.0% · 159
- Two or more races3.5% · 80
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 44
Popularity
Manda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Manda from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 729 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Manda 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 Manda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mandas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Texas, California, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Manda, while Oklahoma, North Carolina, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Manda
The name Manda has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that originated in the Indian subcontinent around the 2nd millennium BCE. In Sanskrit, the name is derived from the word "manda," which means "slow" or "gentle." This suggests that the name may have originally been associated with qualities such as patience, calmness, or gentleness.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Manda can be found in the ancient Hindu scripture, the Mahabharata. In this epic, Manda is mentioned as the name of a warrior who fought alongside the Pandavas in the great war of Kurukshetra. The Mahabharata is believed to have been composed between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE, indicating that the name has a long and rich history in Indian culture.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Manda. One such person was Manda Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya (1861-1962), an eminent Indian engineer, scholar, and statesman who is widely regarded as the "Father of Modern Mysore State." He played a pivotal role in the construction of several dams and reservoirs in the erstwhile Mysore State, contributing significantly to the development of the region.
Another famous bearer of the name was Manda Rama Krishna (1925-2017), a renowned Indian classical dancer and choreographer. She was a pioneer in the field of Kuchipudi dance, a classical Indian dance form, and is credited with reviving and popularizing this art form both in India and abroad.
In the realm of literature, Manda Lal Nath (1924-2005) was a prominent Indian poet and writer who wrote extensively in the Hindi language. He was the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honors.
Moving beyond the Indian subcontinent, Manda Siduri was a Mesopotamian princess and high priestess who lived during the 3rd millennium BCE. She is mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest known literary works, where she is depicted as a wise and influential figure who offers guidance to the hero Gilgamesh.
While the name Manda may have originated in the Indian subcontinent, it has since spread to various parts of the world, transcending cultural and geographical boundaries. Throughout its long history, the name has been borne by individuals from diverse backgrounds, each leaving their mark on the tapestry of human civilization.
People
Manda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Manda 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
Manda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Manda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,898 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Manda 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 180,587 US residents.
Is Manda a common name?
We classify Manda as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,294 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Manda most popular?
The single biggest year for Manda was 1975, when 102 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Manda is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Manda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,258 people with the name Manda, or 0.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,933 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 Manda 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 Manda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Manda appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,257 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Manda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manda is White at 72.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.9%) and Black (7.5%). 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 Manda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Manda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.1% (1,627 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 Manda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Manda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Manda 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 Manda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Manda 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 Manda 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 Manda?
Want to know how many Americans are named Manda? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.