Milinda
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "charming or lovely".
Name Census estimates that about 900 living Americans carry the first name Milinda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Milinda today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Milinda births was 1972 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Milinda. 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
900
~ 1 in 380,838 Americans
Peak year
1972
37 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,843
Tracked since 1945
Census
Milinda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 831 people with the first name Milinda, which placed it at #14,225 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
#14,225
National first-name rank
People counted
831
831 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Milinda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milinda is White at 58.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.8%) and Black (8.2%). 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 Milinda 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 Milinda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.7% · 488
- Hispanic or Latino21.8% · 181
- Black or African American8.2% · 68
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 50
- Two or more races3.9% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 12
Popularity
Milinda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Milinda from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 256 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Milinda 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 Milinda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Milindas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Milinda
The name Milinda has its origins in ancient India, specifically in the Pali language, which was a literary language of ancient India and is closely related to Sanskrit. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "milinda," which means "the slayer of enemies" or "the conquerer."
The earliest recorded use of the name Milinda can be found in the Buddhist text "Milindapanha," which is a collection of questions and answers between the Indo-Greek king Milinda (also known as Menander I) and the Buddhist sage Nāgasena. This text is believed to have been composed sometime between the 2nd century BCE and the 4th century CE in the northern Indian subcontinent.
One of the earliest known individuals bearing the name Milinda was King Menander I, also known as Milinda, who ruled the Indo-Greek Kingdom in the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent during the 2nd century BCE. He is known for his interest in Buddhist philosophy and his dialogues with the Buddhist sage Nāgasena, which were recorded in the "Milindapanha."
Another notable figure with the name Milinda was Milinda Sirisena, a Sri Lankan politician who served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2015 to 2019. He was born on September 26, 1951, and is known for his efforts to promote reconciliation between the different ethnic communities in Sri Lanka following the civil war.
In Indian history, there was a famous Buddhist scholar named Milinda Panha, who lived during the 5th century CE and is credited with composing several important Buddhist texts, including the "Milindapanha-Tika," a commentary on the "Milindapanha."
Another individual with the name Milinda was Milinda Moragoda, a Sri Lankan politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Economic Reform, Science, and Technology in Sri Lanka from 2001 to 2004. He was born on August 9, 1958, and has also served as the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to India and as a member of the Sri Lankan Parliament.
In the field of literature, there was a Sri Lankan author and poet named Milinda Prasad Rajakaruna, who was born in 1948 and is known for his works in both Sinhala and English languages. He has written several collections of poetry and short stories, as well as translations of classic works into Sinhala.
People
Milinda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Milinda 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
Milinda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Milinda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 900 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Milinda 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 380,838 US residents.
Is Milinda a common name?
We classify Milinda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,033 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Milinda most popular?
The single biggest year for Milinda was 1972, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Milinda 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 Milinda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 831 people with the name Milinda, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,225 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 Milinda 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 Milinda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Milinda leans strongly female. 806 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 18 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Milinda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milinda is White at 58.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.8%) and Black (8.2%). 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 Milinda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Milinda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.7% (488 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 Milinda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Milinda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Milinda 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 Milinda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Milinda 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 Milinda 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 have the name Milinda?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.