Minerva
A feminine given name derived from the Roman goddess of wisdom.
Name Census estimates that about 7,382 living Americans carry the first name Minerva. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Minerva today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Minerva births was 1955 (221 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Minerva. 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 Minerva with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.4K
~ 1 in 46,431 Americans
Peak year
1955
221 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,446
Tracked since 1880
Census
Minerva in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,560 people with the first name Minerva, which placed it at #1,675 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
#1,675
National first-name rank
People counted
19K
18,560 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
83.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Minerva
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Minerva is Hispanic at 83.7%. The next largest groups are White (6.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%). 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 Minerva 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 Minerva at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino83.7% · 15,538
- White6.7% · 1,245
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.6% · 1,034
- Black or African American3.2% · 588
- Two or more races0.5% · 102
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 53
Popularity
Minerva: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Minerva from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 1,874 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Minerva 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 Minerva during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Minervas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Minerva, while South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 266 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Minerva
Minerva is a feminine given name of Latin origin, derived from the name of the ancient Roman goddess of wisdom, war, arts, and commerce. The name is believed to have emerged during the classical era in ancient Rome, sometime around the 8th century BC.
The name Minerva is thought to be derived from the Etruscan word "menrva," which means "divine intellect" or "the sublime one." The Etruscans were an ancient civilization that inhabited parts of modern-day Italy, and their culture had a significant influence on the development of Roman mythology and religion.
Minerva was one of the most important deities in the Roman pantheon, and her cult was widely celebrated throughout the Roman Empire. She was often depicted wearing a helmet and holding a spear, symbolizing her role as the goddess of war and strategy, as well as a shield and an owl, representing her attributes of wisdom and knowledge.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Minerva can be found in ancient Roman texts, such as the works of Ovid, Virgil, and Cicero, who frequently referenced the goddess and her mythological tales. The name also appears in various religious inscriptions and dedications to the goddess throughout the Roman world.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Minerva, including:
1. Minerva Ortuño (c. 1200 - c. 1230), a Spanish noblewoman and patron of the arts during the 13th century.
2. Minerva Mirabal (1925 - 1960), a Dominican activist and one of the three Mirabal sisters, who were assassinated for their opposition to the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo.
3. Minerva Sánchez (1888 - 1975), a Mexican revolutionary and feminist who fought for women's rights and social justice in the early 20th century.
4. Minerva Marchetti (1889 - 1974), an Italian operatic soprano who performed in major opera houses around the world during the early 20th century.
5. Minerva Vazquez (born 1954), a Mexican-American artist and sculptor known for her large-scale public art installations.
The name Minerva has been used across various cultures and time periods, reflecting the enduring influence of the Roman goddess and her associations with wisdom, strength, and intellect.
People
Minerva + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Minerva 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
Minerva: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Minerva?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,382 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Minerva 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 46,431 US residents.
Is Minerva a common name?
We classify Minerva as "Rare". It ranks above 97.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,734 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Minerva most popular?
The single biggest year for Minerva was 1955, when 221 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Minerva is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Minerva in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,560 people with the name Minerva, or 6.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,675 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 Minerva 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 Minerva?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Minerva appears almost entirely female. Of the 18,562 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Minerva?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Minerva is Hispanic at 83.7%. The next largest groups are White (6.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%). 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 Minerva most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Minerva in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.7% (15,538 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 Minerva in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Minerva a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Minerva 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 Minerva still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Minerva 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 Minerva 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 Minerva?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.