Manuela
Feminine · “God is with us”
Manuela is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 11,033 girls against 35 boys since 1880.
Manuela is the feminine of Manuel — from Immanuel, God with us — the name Isaiah gives to a sign.
How old is the name Manuela?
Manuela was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Manuela alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 6,100 people named Manuela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Manuela most popular?
Manuela peaked in 1920, reaching #486 nationally. Today it ranks #2564, 2,078 places below that high. See the whole 1920 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Immanu-El to Manuela
The story of Manuela
Isaiah tells King Ahaz that a young woman will bear a son and call him Immanuel, God with us — a sign about a specific political crisis that Matthew later reads as a prophecy of Jesus. Spanish and Portuguese made Manuel and Manuela. Manuela Sáenz was Bolívar's partner and a revolutionary in her own right. It is in current American use.
Meaning
God is with us
From the Hebrew Immanu-El — immanu, 'with us', and El, 'God' — through Manuel. Isaiah 7 gives it as the name of a child who will be a sign; Matthew applies it to Jesus. The Hebrew is transparent and the reading undisputed.
How the name formed
- Immanu-El
- Emmanuel
- Manuel
- Manuela
Related forms: Manuela · Manuela · Emanuela
Pronouncing Manuela
mah-NWEH-lah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Spanish keeps the ue as a single glide.
Nicknames for Manuela
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1924202 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #486reached in 1920
- Change vs 2022
- −19.0%68 in 2025, from 84
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.
Manuela in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Manuela in Spanish — same name
- Manuela in Portuguese — same name
- Emanuela in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Massachusetts, Texas.
Manuelas among us
people named Manuela are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 23,636 born in 2025 was named Manuela
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Manuela
- #2564
- Manuela on the 2025 chart
- #875
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Manuela went to 68 girls in 2025, but Manuella is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 85, which makes it the 875th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,689 places above the chart.
- Manuela68
- Manuella17
About 1 girl in 18,909 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 23,636 for Manuela 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
The Celestine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Manuela's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Celestine climbed just as high around 1902, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Celestine's path sketches the road Manuela is walking now.
Manuela 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
Where Manuela is headed
Manuela should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Manuela beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Manuela in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The God-is-with-us meaning is transparent and about as good as meanings get.
- Manu and Ela are two short forms, both with real use.
- Manuela Sáenz is a first-rate historical bearer.
- English speakers split the ue into two syllables.
- It reads as specifically Spanish or Portuguese.
- Emmanuela and Manuela are both in circulation.
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What they receive
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Manuela
Feminine · #2564 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Manuelas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,100 people named Manuela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Manuela?
- Manuela is the most-used spelling in US records — 68 of the 85 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Manuella.
- How popular is the name Manuela in 2025?
- Manuela ranks #2564 among US girl names in 2025, with 68 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Manuela?
- About 1 in every 23,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Manuela — 68 in all.
- Will my child share the name Manuela with classmates?
- Manuela will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Manuela
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Xareni#2564 · Davie#2564 · Jacklyn#2564 · Miliana#2564 · Sabina#2564 · Nyx#2564 · Porter#2564 · Darby#2564
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Manuela? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Manuela and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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