Mana
Feminine · “Spiritual power”
Mana is given to both — 703 girls and 134 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Mana is a Polynesian word that anthropology borrowed and then made famous: the spiritual force that attaches to people, places and objects and can be gained or lost. It is also a Japanese girls' name and, in the American records of 1917, most probably neither of those.
How old is the name Mana?
Mana first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Mana alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 700 people named Mana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mana most popular?
Mana peaked in 1917, reaching #3344 nationally. Today it ranks #5238, 1,894 places below that high. See the whole 1917 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Mana
One word, three unconnected American arrivals. Polynesian mana entered English through nineteenth-century missionary and anthropological writing and became a technical term in the study of religion; it has since become an ordinary English loanword and, through games, a word for a magical resource. Japanese Mana is a common modern girls' name with no relation to it. And the American Mana of 1917 is almost certainly a third thing entirely: the era's records are full of short women's names formed by clipping — Manda from Amanda, Manie from Mary Ann, Mana from Manuela or from nothing in particular. The peak in the data belongs to that third stream. The other two arrived later and separately, which is worth knowing before claiming a meaning.
Meaningscholars disagree
Spiritual power, in Polynesian; separately a Japanese name
Polynesian mana — Māori, Hawaiian, Tongan and Samoan share the word — means prestige, authority and spiritual force, and the reading is settled in those languages. Japanese Mana is written with various kanji including 愛 and 真奈, with meanings that depend on the characters. The American Mana of the early twentieth century is likely to be neither: it appears alongside Manda, Manie and Manuela and is probably a clipping of one of those. No source settles it.
Pronouncing Mana
MAH-nah
Two syllables, both open, stress on the first. Polynesian and Japanese both give the two vowels equal length; American speech tends to reduce the second to a schwa, MAN-uh.
Nicknames for Mana
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1917
- Most girls named
- 200927 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3344reached in 1917
- Change vs 2024
- +50.0%24 in 2025, from 16
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Mana in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mana in Māori — related form
- Mana in Hawaiian — related form
- まな in Japanese — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Manas among us
people named Mana are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was named Mana
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mana
- #5238
- Mana on the 2025 chart
- #930
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mana went to 24 girls in 2025, but Manna is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 30, which makes it the 930th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,308 places above the chart.
- Mana24
- Manna6
About 1 girl in 53,576 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 66,969 for Mana itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Mana sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Mana beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two open syllables travel anywhere without difficulty.
- The Polynesian meaning is settled and unusually powerful.
- Every English speaker can say it on first sight.
- The three possible sources have nothing to do with one another.
- In gaming English mana is a resource bar, which is now a common association.
- Mana, Manna and Mona are close enough to be misheard.
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Mana
Feminine · #5238 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Manas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Mana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mana?
- Mana is the most-used spelling in US records — 24 of the 30 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Manna.
- How popular is the name Mana in 2025?
- Mana ranks #5238 among US girl names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mana?
- About 1 in every 66,969 US girls born in 2025 was named Mana — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mana with classmates?
- Mana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mana
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Irena#5238 · Esma#5238 · Dagny#5238 · Venice#5238 · Lisbeth#5238 · Loralie#5238 · Alania#5238 · Erma#5238
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mana? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mana and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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