Mo
An English masculine diminutive of Morris or Maurice of Germanic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 27 living Americans carry the first name Mo. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Mo today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mo births was 2016 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mo. 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 Mo with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Mo. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
27
~ 1 in 12,694,605 Americans
Peak year
2016
14 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,781
Tracked since 2013
Census
Mo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,391 people with the first name Mo, which placed it at #5,152 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
#5,152
National first-name rank
People counted
3.4K
3,391 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
41.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mo is Asian/Pacific Islander at 41.8%. The next largest groups are White (35.2%) and Black (12.2%). 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 Mo 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 Mo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander41.8% · 1,418
- White35.2% · 1,194
- Black or African American12.2% · 414
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 228
- Two or more races3.7% · 125
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Mo
Mo is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 27 total registrations, 20 (74.1%) were male and 7 (25.9%) were female.
Mo as a male name
- Ranked #11,781 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2013 (7 births)
Mo as a female name
- Ranked #13,897 in 2016
- 7 female births in 2016
- Peak: 2016 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mo on both sides of the split. Of the 3,396 people counted with this name, 1,869 were male (55.0%) and 1,527 were female (45.0%).
Popularity
Mo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mo from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 21 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mo 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 Mo 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 Mo
The name Mo originates from various cultures and has a rich history spanning several centuries. It is a diminutive form of the name Mohammed, which is derived from the Arabic word 'mahmud' meaning 'praiseworthy' or 'blessed'. Mohammed is one of the most popular names in the Islamic world, as it was the name of the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
Mo can also be a shortened version of other names such as Moses, derived from the Hebrew 'Moshe' meaning 'drawn out of water'. In the Bible, Moses was a prophet who led the Israelites out of Egypt and received the Ten Commandments from God.
The earliest recorded use of the name Mo dates back to the 7th century AD, during the rise of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. One of the first notable figures with this name was Mo'awiya I, the founder of the Umayyad Caliphate, who ruled from 661 to 680 AD.
In the 12th century, Mo Tzu, a Chinese philosopher and the founder of the school of Mohism, was a prominent figure known for his teachings on universal love and the condemnation of offensive warfare.
During the Renaissance period, Mo Yan was a renowned Chinese novelist and short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012 for his works that merge folk tales, history, and contemporary life.
In the 20th century, Mo Farah, a British long-distance runner of Somali descent, won multiple Olympic and World Championship gold medals in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter events, making him one of the most successful track athletes of all time.
Another notable figure with the name Mo is Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese-British businessman and philanthropist, who established the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to support good governance and leadership in Africa.
Throughout history, the name Mo has been associated with various cultures, religions, and significant figures, reflecting its diverse origins and the diverse experiences of those who have borne this name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Mo
People
Mo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mo 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
Mo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 27 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mo 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 12,694,605 US residents.
Is Mo a common name?
We classify Mo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 44.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 27 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mo most popular?
The single biggest year for Mo was 2016, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mo is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,391 people with the name Mo, or 1.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,152 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 Mo 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 Mo?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mo on both sides of the split. Of the 3,396 people counted with this name, 1,869 were male (55.0%) and 1,527 were female (45.0%). 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 Mo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mo is Asian/Pacific Islander at 41.8%. The next largest groups are White (35.2%) and Black (12.2%). 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 Mo most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Mo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.8% (1,418 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 Mo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mo a male name?
Yes, 74.1% of people registered as Mo 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 Mo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mo 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 Mo 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 common is the name Mo?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.