Menashe
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "one who causes to forget".
Name Census estimates that about 409 living Americans carry the first name Menashe. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Menashe today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Menashe births was 2014 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Menashe. 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 Menashe with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
409
~ 1 in 838,030 Americans
Peak year
2014
24 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,809
Tracked since 1978
Census
Menashe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 413 people with the first name Menashe, which placed it at #23,623 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
#23,623
National first-name rank
People counted
413
413 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
97.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Menashe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Menashe is White at 97.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.0%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Menashe 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 Menashe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White97.8% · 404
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 4
- Two or more races0.7% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
Popularity
Menashe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Menashe 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 157 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Menashe remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Menashe 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 Menashe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Menashes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Menashe
The name Menashe is a Hebrew name with a rich historical and cultural significance. It is derived from the Hebrew name Manasseh, which means "he who causes to forget" or "one who brings forgetfulness." The name traces its roots back to the biblical figure Manasseh, the eldest son of Joseph and Asenath in the book of Genesis.
In the Old Testament, Manasseh was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, and his name was given to him by Joseph to symbolize that God had made him forget all his hardships and his father's household. The tribe of Manasseh settled in the region west of the Jordan River, and the name became a popular choice among Jewish families throughout the centuries.
The name Menashe has been recorded in various historical texts and documents, including the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, and other Jewish religious writings. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name can be found in the book of Numbers, where Manasseh is listed as one of the leaders of the Israelite tribes.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Menashe. One of the most famous was Menashe ben Israel (1604-1657), a Dutch Jewish scholar, writer, and diplomat who played a pivotal role in promoting the readmission of Jews to England after their expulsion in 1290.
Another notable figure was Menashe ben Joseph ben Israel (1604-1657), a Dutch-Jewish philosopher and rabbi who made significant contributions to the study of Jewish law and philosophy. He is best known for his work "Nishmat Hayyim" (The Soul of Life), a treatise on the immortality of the soul.
In the 18th century, Menashe Ilyer-Unterman (1723-1805) was a renowned Russian-Jewish scholar and author who wrote extensively on Jewish law and ethics. His works, including "Shaarei Teshuvah" (Gates of Repentance), were widely studied and influential in Jewish communities.
Menashe Mendi Mocher Sforim (1836-1924) was a Polish-Jewish rabbi and author who gained fame for his work "Chiddushei Agadot" (Novellae on the Aggadah), a commentary on the non-legal portions of the Talmud.
In more recent times, Menashe Kadishman (1932-2015) was an Israeli sculptor and painter known for his large-scale installations and public artworks, many of which featured sheep motifs.
People
Menashe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Menashe 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
Menashe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Menashe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 409 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Menashe 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 838,030 US residents.
Is Menashe a common name?
We classify Menashe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 415 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Menashe most popular?
The single biggest year for Menashe was 2014, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Menashe is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Menashe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 413 people with the name Menashe, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,623 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 Menashe 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 Menashe?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Menashe appears almost entirely male. Of the 420 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Menashe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Menashe is White at 97.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.0%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). 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 Menashe most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Menashe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.8% (404 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 Menashe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Menashe a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Menashe 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 Menashe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Menashe 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 Menashe 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 Americans are named Menashe?
Want to know how many Americans are named Menashe? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.