Minetta
A diminutive form of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom.
Name Census estimates that about 18 living Americans carry the first name Minetta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Minetta today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Minetta births was 1918 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Minetta. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Minetta is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Minettas were born before 1960.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Minetta. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
18
~ 1 in 19,041,908 Americans
Peak year
1918
9 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1957 SSA rank
#5,226
Tracked since 1894
Census
Minetta in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 138 people with the first name Minetta, which placed it at #47,373 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
#47,373
National first-name rank
People counted
138
138 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Minetta
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Minetta is White at 52.9%. The next largest groups are Black (31.9%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Minetta 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 Minetta at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.9% · 73
- Black or African American31.9% · 44
- Two or more races5.8% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1
Popularity
Minetta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Minetta from the 1890s through to the 1950s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 35 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Minetta remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Minetta 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 Minetta during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Minetta
The name Minetta is a diminutive form of the Italian name Mina, which itself is a shortened version of the name Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina is derived from the Germanic elements "wil" meaning "will" or "desire" and "helm" meaning "helmet" or "protection." The name Wilhelmina was first recorded in the 8th century and was popular among Germanic tribes and later in medieval Europe.
Minetta is believed to have originated in Italy during the Renaissance period, where diminutive forms of names were commonly used as pet names or terms of endearment. The addition of the suffix "-etta" to Mina created the name Minetta, which carried a sense of affection and familiarity.
While there are no known historical references to the name Minetta itself in ancient texts or religious scriptures, the name Wilhelmina has been recorded in various historical documents and records throughout the centuries. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Wilhelmina of Bohemia (1289-1336), a Bohemian princess and the daughter of King Wenceslaus II.
Another notable figure was Wilhelmina of Prussia (1709-1758), who was the first female ruler of the Prussian state. She was known for her strong leadership and her efforts to modernize and strengthen Prussia during her reign.
In the 19th century, Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (1880-1962) was a beloved Queen of the Netherlands, ruling from 1890 to 1948. She played a significant role in leading her country through two world wars and the German occupation.
In the literary world, Wilhelmina Fitzpatrick (1859-1943) was an American author and poet who wrote under the pen name "Edith M. Thomas." Her works often explored themes of nature and spirituality.
Another notable figure was Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004), a British abstract painter and printmaker who was a leading figure in the St Ives art colony in Cornwall, England.
While these examples are of individuals named Wilhelmina, they illustrate the historical significance and widespread use of the name from which Minetta is derived. The name Minetta itself, as a diminutive form, likely emerged as a more intimate and affectionate variation used in personal and familial contexts.
People
Minetta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Minetta 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
Minetta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Minetta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Minetta 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 19,041,908 US residents.
Is Minetta a common name?
We classify Minetta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 38.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 118 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Minetta most popular?
The single biggest year for Minetta was 1918, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Minetta is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Minetta in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 138 people with the name Minetta, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,373 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 Minetta 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 Minetta?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Minetta appears almost entirely female. Of the 132 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Minetta?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Minetta is White at 52.9%. The next largest groups are Black (31.9%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Minetta most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Minetta in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.9% (73 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 Minetta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Minetta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Minetta 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 Minetta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Minetta 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 Minetta 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 Minetta?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.