Mena
Feminine
Mena is given to both — 1,517 girls and 161 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Mena was inside the American top seven hundred and forty in 1880, and it is a clipping rather than a name in its own origin. Philomena, Wilhelmina, Almena and Domenica all produce it, and nineteenth-century American families wrote the short form on the certificate. Which longer name stood behind a given Mena is a family fact rather than a documented one.
How old is the name Mena?
Mena was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Mena alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 1,300 people named Mena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mena most popular?
Mena peaked in 1880, reaching #738 nationally. Today it ranks #6116, 5,378 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Philomena to Mena
Our story of Mena
Nineteenth-century America wrote clippings on birth certificates at a scale that no other period has matched, and the reason was practical rather than fashionable. In a culture where names were spoken far more often than they were written, the household version of a name had real standing — a woman called Mena all her life was Mena, and the four-syllable form on her baptismal record was a formality nobody used. When registration became universal, families increasingly wrote down the name actually in use. The result is a generation of American records full of Mena, Nettie, Hattie, Lena, Etta and Effie, all of them the surviving tails of longer names. Recovering which longer name in a particular case usually requires a family Bible rather than a dictionary, and that is a fact about the period, not a gap in the research.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The meaning depends on the parent name. Philomena is Greek, from philos, 'loving', and menos, 'strength' or 'mind' — so 'strong-loving' or 'friend of strength'. Wilhelmina is Germanic, from wil, 'will', and helm, 'helmet, protection'. Almena and Domenica are different again. Mena inherits whichever of these it was clipped from, and the record does not say. Greek Mena also exists independently as a shortening of names in men-, from the moon.
How the name formed
- Philomena
- Mena
Related forms: Mena · Mina · Mena
Pronouncing Mena
MEE-nah
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a long e. A second saying, MEH-nah with a short e, is also recorded and follows the Italian and Greek. Both are heard on American bearers.
Nicknames for Mena
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
- 200865 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #738reached in 1880
- Change vs 2023
- +46.2%19 in 2025, from 13
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.
Mena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mena in Italian — same name
- Mina in German — related form
- Mena in Greek — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Michigan.
Menas among us
people named Mena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was named Mena
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mena
- #6116
- Mena on the 2025 chart
- #892
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mena went to 19 girls in 2025, but Meena and Menna are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 68, which makes it the 892nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,224 places above the chart.
- Meena40
- Mena19
- Menna9
About 1 girl in 23,636 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 84,593 for Mena 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
Mena 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
Mena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, two syllables, and spellable by anyone who hears it.
- Philomena and Wilhelmina are both available as longer, formal alternatives.
- It is soft and easy in English, Italian, Spanish and German alike.
- Two vowel readings circulate for the first syllable.
- It is close to Mina, Nena and Lena and will be misheard.
- The meaning depends entirely on which longer name a family clipped it from.
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Mena
Feminine · #6116 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Menas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Mena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mena?
- Mena is one of 3 recorded spellings. Meena is the more common one — 40 births in 2025 against 19 for Mena.
- How popular is the name Mena in 2025?
- Mena ranks #6116 among US girl names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mena?
- About 1 in every 84,593 US girls born in 2025 was named Mena — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mena with classmates?
- Mena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alvina#6116 · Harvey#6116 · Kellie#6116 · Alden#6116 · Jeanna#6116 · Sammi#6116 · Jai#6116 · Mamie#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mena? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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