Masa
Feminine
Masa is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 533 girls against 12 boys since 1880.
Masa is a Japanese name element, a Slavic short form of Maria, and the Spanish word for dough — three languages arriving at the same two syllables.
How old is the name Masa?
Masa first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Masa is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Masa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Masa most popular?
Masa peaked in 2023, reaching #2646 nationally. Today it ranks #3975, 1,329 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Masa
Ours, offered as ours. The Japanese element is the most interesting: masa appears in an enormous number of Japanese names and its meaning depends entirely on which character is chosen — correctness, elegance, truth, increase. The same spoken syllable can be four different words. Slavic Maša, meanwhile, is what a grandmother calls a Marija. Neither knows about the other, and the Spanish dough is a third accident.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Japanese masa is an element in many names, written with characters for correct, elegant or true depending on the family. Bosnian and Serbian Maša clips Marija. Spanish masa is dough or mass. All three are documented and unrelated.
Pronouncing Masa
MAH-sah
Two syllables, first stressed. Japanese gives both syllables even weight; Serbian Maša has a sh sound.
Nicknames for Masa
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
- 1919
- Most girls named
- 202366 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2646reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −34.5%36 in 2025, from 55
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.
Masa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- まさ in Japanese — transliteration
- Maša in Serbian — related form
- Masa in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Illinois.
Masas among us
people named Masa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 44,646 born in 2025 was named Masa
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 Megann test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Masa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Megann climbed just as high around 1988, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Megann's path sketches the road Masa is walking now.
Masa 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 Masa is headed
Masa looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 28% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Masa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Masa 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 syllables, about as easy to write as a name gets.
- Open vowels make it easy to say in most languages.
- Three real traditions produce it.
- The Serbian form has a sh sound the plain spelling does not show.
- In Spanish it is the ordinary word for dough, which will be noticed.
- The Japanese meaning depends on characters a Roman spelling cannot carry.
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What they receive
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Masa
Feminine · #3975 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Masas 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 Masa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Masa in 2025?
- Masa ranks #3975 among US girl names in 2025, with 36 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Masa?
- About 1 in every 44,646 US girls born in 2025 was named Masa — 36 in all.
- Will my child share the name Masa with classmates?
- Masa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Masa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rubie#3975 · Bradley#3975 · Jodi#3975 · An#3975 · Ilianna#3975 · Saja#3975 · Ansleigh#3975 · Dorcas#3975
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Masa? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Masa and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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