Minh
A Vietnamese name meaning bright, brilliant, intelligent, or enlightened.
Name Census estimates that about 2,292 living Americans carry the first name Minh. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Minh today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Minh births was 1982 (102 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Minh. 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 Minh with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.3K
~ 1 in 149,544 Americans
Peak year
1982
102 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,125
Tracked since 1975
Census
Minh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,888 people with the first name Minh, which placed it at #1,718 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
#1,718
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
17,888 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
97.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Minh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Minh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.0%) and White (0.9%). 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 Minh 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 Minh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander97.6% · 17,458
- Two or more races1.0% · 178
- White0.9% · 165
- Hispanic or Latino0.3% · 51
- Black or African American0.2% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Minh
Minh leans heavily male at 87.9% of total registrations, but 286 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Minh as a male name
- Ranked #3,125 in 2024
- 39 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1982 (80 births)
Minh as a female name
- Ranked #15,061 in 2018
- 6 female births in 2018
- Peak: 1982 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Minh on both sides of the split. Of the 17,886 people counted with this name, 13,964 were male (78.1%) and 3,922 were female (21.9%).
Popularity
Minh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Minh from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 713 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Minh 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 Minh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Minhs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Minh, while Virginia, New York, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 117 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Minh
The given name Minh has its origins in the Vietnamese language and culture. It is a gender-neutral name that can be used for both males and females. The name Minh is derived from the Vietnamese word "minh," which means "bright," "brilliant," or "enlightened."
In Vietnamese culture, the name Minh has long been associated with intelligence, wisdom, and enlightenment. It was often given to children with the hope that they would grow up to be intelligent, insightful, and knowledgeable individuals.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Minh can be traced back to ancient Vietnamese literature and historical records. One notable mention is in the Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu, a historical text compiled in the 15th century, which mentions several individuals with the name Minh.
Throughout history, there have been many notable individuals who bore the name Minh. One of the most famous was Minh Mang (1791-1841), the second emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam. He was known for his strict Confucian policies and his promotion of Vietnamese culture and traditions.
Another prominent figure was Minh Tri (1807-1847), a Vietnamese emperor who ruled from 1841 to 1847. He was known for his efforts to modernize the Vietnamese military and his reforms aimed at improving the lives of the Vietnamese people.
Minh Khai (1910-1986) was a prominent Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who played a significant role in the Vietnamese independence movement and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
Minh Duong (1909-1964) was a Vietnamese poet and writer who is considered one of the most influential literary figures of the 20th century in Vietnam. His works often explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition.
Minh Phung (1919-2010) was a renowned Vietnamese artist and painter who was known for his vibrant and expressive depictions of Vietnamese landscapes and everyday life. His artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Minh. The name has remained popular in Vietnam and among Vietnamese communities around the world, carrying with it the cultural significance of intelligence, wisdom, and enlightenment.
People
Minh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Minh 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
Minh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Minh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,292 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Minh 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 149,544 US residents.
Is Minh a common name?
We classify Minh as "Rare". It ranks above 94.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,357 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Minh most popular?
The single biggest year for Minh was 1982, when 102 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Minh is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Minh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,888 people with the name Minh, or 5.92 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,718 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 Minh 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 Minh?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Minh on both sides of the split. Of the 17,886 people counted with this name, 13,964 were male (78.1%) and 3,922 were female (21.9%). 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 Minh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Minh is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.0%) and White (0.9%). 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 Minh most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Minh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.6% (17,458 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 Minh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Minh a male name?
Yes, 87.9% of people registered as Minh 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 Minh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Minh 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 Minh 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 Minh as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.