Moroni
A masculine name meaning "courageous" or "brave one" in various Semitic languages.
Name Census estimates that about 401 living Americans carry the first name Moroni. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Moroni today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Moroni births was 2006 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Moroni. 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
401
~ 1 in 854,749 Americans
Peak year
2006
20 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,531
Tracked since 1880
Census
Moroni in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 447 people with the first name Moroni, which placed it at #22,320 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
#22,320
National first-name rank
People counted
447
447 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
41.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Moroni
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Moroni is Hispanic at 41.6%. The next largest groups are White (40.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%). 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 Moroni 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 Moroni at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino41.6% · 186
- White40.3% · 180
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.9% · 40
- Two or more races5.1% · 23
- Black or African American2.5% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 7
Popularity
Moroni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Moroni from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 148 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Moroni 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 Moroni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Moronis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Utah, California, Idaho recorded the most babies named Moroni, while Idaho, California, Utah recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Moroni
The given name Moroni has its origins in the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. The name is derived from the ancient Nephite language and is believed to have emerged around the 4th century AD. It is the name of an ancient prophet and record keeper who lived in the Americas during that time period.
The Book of Mormon tells the story of Moroni, who was the last Nephite prophet and the son of Mormon, another prominent figure in the text. Moroni is credited with burying the golden plates that contained the record of his people, which were later revealed to Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, in the early 19th century.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Moroni is found in the Book of Mormon itself, where it refers to the prophet and his father. Beyond this religious text, there are no known historical records or ancient texts that mention the name Moroni from that time period.
In more recent history, the name Moroni has been used primarily within the Latter Day Saint community. One notable individual was Moroni Pratt (1808-1857), an early member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a missionary who helped establish the church in various parts of the United States.
Another prominent figure was Moroni Clawson (1857-1926), a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a leader in the church's settlement efforts in Mexico.
Moroni Olsen (1889-1939) was an American actor and singer who appeared in numerous films and plays during the early 20th century. He is perhaps best known for his role in the 1935 film Mutiny on the Bounty.
Moroni Torgan (1916-2005) was a French-born American actor and director who had a successful career in television and theater, including roles in popular shows like The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Moroni Laub-Petersen (1910-1995) was a Danish sculptor and artist who was renowned for his public works and sculptures, many of which can be found in various cities across Denmark and Europe.
People
Moroni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Moroni 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
Moroni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Moroni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 401 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Moroni 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 854,749 US residents.
Is Moroni a common name?
We classify Moroni as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 415 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Moroni most popular?
The single biggest year for Moroni was 2006, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Moroni is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Moroni in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 447 people with the name Moroni, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,320 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 Moroni 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 Moroni?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Moroni appears almost entirely male. Of the 448 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Moroni?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Moroni is Hispanic at 41.6%. The next largest groups are White (40.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%). 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 Moroni most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Moroni in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.6% (186 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 Moroni in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Moroni a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Moroni 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 Moroni still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Moroni 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 Moroni 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 Moroni as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.