Ninah
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly Egyptian or Arabic.
Name Census estimates that about 214 living Americans carry the first name Ninah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ninah today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ninah births was 2006 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ninah. 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
214
~ 1 in 1,601,656 Americans
Peak year
2006
17 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2023 SSA rank
#16,930
Tracked since 1992
Census
Ninah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 253 people with the first name Ninah, which placed it at #32,947 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
#32,947
National first-name rank
People counted
253
253 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
30.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ninah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ninah is White at 30.8%. The next largest groups are Black (30.0%) and Hispanic (23.3%). 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 Ninah 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 Ninah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White30.8% · 78
- Black or African American30.0% · 76
- Hispanic or Latino23.3% · 59
- Two or more races8.7% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.5% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 4
Popularity
Ninah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ninah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 107 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
Ninah 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 Ninah 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 Ninah
The name Ninah has its roots in ancient Mesopotamia, where it was derived from the Sumerian word "nin," meaning "lady" or "princess." The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 3rd millennium BC, when it was often given to noble women or those with high social standing.
In the ancient Akkadian language, which was widely used in Mesopotamia, the name Ninah was sometimes spelled as "Ninua" or "Ninwa." It was closely associated with various goddesses in the Sumerian and Akkadian pantheons, particularly the goddess Inanna, who was revered as the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility.
The name Ninah also appears in several ancient texts and inscriptions from the region, including cuneiform tablets and cylinder seals. One notable example is the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest surviving works of literature, where a character named Ninah is mentioned as a priestess in the service of the god Shamash.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Ninah. One of the earliest was Ninah of Lagash, a high priestess who lived in the city-state of Lagash (modern-day Al-Hiba, Iraq) around 2400 BC. She was renowned for her religious devotion and her role in preserving the city's cultural heritage.
Another famous Ninah was Ninah bint Al-Baridī, a 10th-century Arab poet and scholar from Basra, Iraq. She was highly regarded for her contributions to Arabic literature and her mastery of various poetic forms.
In the 12th century, there was Ninah of Cologne, a German mystic and visionary who claimed to have received divine revelations. Her writings and teachings significantly influenced the Christian mystical tradition of the time.
During the Renaissance period, Ninah Comanini (1497-1565) was an Italian painter and poet from Mantua. She was known for her religious and allegorical works, as well as her poetry celebrating the city's cultural achievements.
In more recent times, Ninah Forrester (1918-2010) was an American author and journalist who wrote extensively about the civil rights movement and social justice issues. Her memoir, "Footprints on the Planet," recounts her experiences as a pioneer in the field of environmental journalism.
People
Ninah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ninah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ninah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ninah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 214 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ninah 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 1,601,656 US residents.
Is Ninah a common name?
We classify Ninah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 217 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ninah most popular?
The single biggest year for Ninah was 2006, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ninah is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ninah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 253 people with the name Ninah, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,947 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 Ninah 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 Ninah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ninah appears almost entirely female. Of the 248 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 Ninah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ninah is White at 30.8%. The next largest groups are Black (30.0%) and Hispanic (23.3%). 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 Ninah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ninah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 30.8% (78 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 Ninah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ninah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ninah 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 Ninah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ninah 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 Ninah 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 share the name Ninah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.