Manoah
A masculine name from Hebrew meaning "resting place" or "resting".
Name Census estimates that about 278 living Americans carry the first name Manoah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Manoah today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Manoah births was 2024 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Manoah. 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 Manoah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
278
~ 1 in 1,232,929 Americans
Peak year
2024
23 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,499
Tracked since 1979
Census
Manoah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 250 people with the first name Manoah, which placed it at #33,212 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
#33,212
National first-name rank
People counted
250
250 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
34.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Manoah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manoah is White at 34.0%. The next largest groups are Black (22.4%) and Hispanic (16.8%). 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 Manoah 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 Manoah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White34.0% · 85
- Black or African American22.4% · 56
- Hispanic or Latino16.8% · 42
- Two or more races15.6% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 7
Popularity
Manoah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Manoah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 121 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Manoah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Manoah 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 Manoah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Manoahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Manoah
The name Manoah has its roots in the Hebrew language and is derived from the word "manoach," which means "rest" or "repose." It is a name that has been recorded in ancient texts and has a rich historical significance.
The earliest known reference to the name Manoah can be found in the Old Testament of the Bible, where it is mentioned as the name of the father of Samson, a legendary figure known for his immense strength and heroic deeds. In the Book of Judges, Manoah is portrayed as a devout man who received a visit from an angel, foretelling the birth of his son, Samson, who would be a Nazirite dedicated to God from birth.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Manoah was a Jewish scholar and rabbi who lived in the 2nd century CE. He is mentioned in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism, as a renowned teacher and interpreter of Jewish law.
During the Middle Ages, the name Manoah was relatively uncommon, but it gained some prominence in the 17th century with the birth of Manoah Hendrickszoon Vander Hulst (1633-1689), a Dutch Golden Age painter known for his portraits and genre scenes. His works can be found in various museums across Europe.
In the 19th century, Manoah Bodman (1798-1886) was a prominent American businessman and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the whaling industry and later devoted his resources to supporting educational institutions and charitable causes in his hometown of Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Another notable figure with the name Manoah was Manoah Gomes (1885-1955), a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the governor of the state of Pernambuco from 1935 to 1937. He played a significant role in the political landscape of Brazil during the early 20th century.
While the name Manoah may not be as common today as it once was, it carries a rich historical legacy that spans centuries and cultures, from its biblical origins to its appearances in various fields, including religion, art, business, and politics.
People
Manoah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Manoah 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
Manoah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Manoah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 278 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Manoah 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 1,232,929 US residents.
Is Manoah a common name?
We classify Manoah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 281 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Manoah most popular?
The single biggest year for Manoah was 2024, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Manoah is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Manoah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 250 people with the name Manoah, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,212 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 Manoah 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 Manoah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Manoah leans strongly male. 241 people counted with this name were male (94.5%), compared with 14 female bearers (5.5%). 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 Manoah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Manoah is White at 34.0%. The next largest groups are Black (22.4%) and Hispanic (16.8%). 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 Manoah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Manoah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.0% (85 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 Manoah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Manoah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Manoah 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 Manoah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Manoah 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 Manoah 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 Manoah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.