Mannix
Masculine · “Irish O Mainchin”
Mannix means little monk. It is the anglicized Irish O Mainchin, from manach, a monk, with a diminutive, and it belongs to a family of Irish surnames built on religious offices. It reached American parents through a television detective series that ran from 1967 to 1975, and the name peaks in 1971, in the middle of that run.
How old is the name Mannix?
Mannix first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Mannix alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 500 people named Mannix are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mannix most popular?
Mannix peaked in 1971, reaching #2203 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 6,040 places below that high. See the whole 1971 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From manach to Mannix
The story of Mannix
Early Irish Christianity was organized around monasteries rather than dioceses, and the vocabulary of that world went into the name stock. Manach, a monk, gives Mannix and Monaghan; cill, a church, gives Kilbride and Kilpatrick; mael, a tonsured devotee, gives Malone, Malachy and Mulligan; giolla, a servant, gives Gilmore and Gilchrist. A surprisingly large share of Irish surnames therefore describe a religious relationship rather than a family one, which reflects how much of Irish society was organized around the monastic settlements between the sixth and twelfth centuries. The American use of Mannix as a first name is a different story entirely: a private detective series carrying the name ran for eight seasons on national television, and the birth data follows it exactly, rising in 1968 and falling after 1975.
Meaning
Irish O Mainchin, descendant of the little monk
From Irish manach, a monk, itself borrowed from Latin monachus, with the diminutive -in, giving Mainchin, little monk. Saint Mainchin is the patron of Limerick. The surname O Mainchin was anglicized as Mannix and Mangan. It has no connection to the English word man. It peaks as an American given name in 1971.
How the name formed
- manach
- Mainchin
- Mannix
Related forms: O Mainchin · Mangan
Pronouncing Mannix
MAN-icks
Two syllables, stress on the first, short a. The final x is the ks pair, as it is in every English word ending in that letter. There is no competing reading.
Nicknames for Mannix
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
- 1967
- Most boys named
- 201031 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2203reached in 1971
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%9 in 2025, from 9
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.
Mannix in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- O Mainchin in Irish — related form
- Mangan in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Mannixs among us
people named Mannix are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Mannix
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Nathanel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mannix's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Nathanel climbed just as high around 1929, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Nathanel's path sketches the road Mannix is walking now.
Mannix 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
Mannix beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mannix in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Irish etymology is settled and documented.
- The final x makes it distinctive and unambiguous.
- Nix works as an unusual short form.
- It reads as a surname to most people.
- The television association is strong for anyone over fifty.
- It is rare enough to need spelling out.
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Mannix
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mannixs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Mannix are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mannix in 2025?
- Mannix ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mannix?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Mannix — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mannix with classmates?
- Mannix will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mannix
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mannix? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mannix and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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