Mignon
Feminine · “dainty”
Mignon is a French adjective meaning small, delicate, sweet — the word a French speaker uses about a child or a kitten. It is also, in a slightly different grammatical dress, the word on a steakhouse menu, and the two are exactly the same word doing exactly the same job.
How old is the name Mignon?
Mignon was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Mignon alive today was born around 1950, making them about 75 years old. About 1,200 people named Mignon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mignon most popular?
Mignon peaked in 1885, reaching #695 nationally. See the whole 1885 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From mignon to Mignon
The story of Mignon
What put it on American birth certificates was an opera. A French composer took a character from a German novel — a strange, silent girl of unknown parentage who has been stolen from Italy and who sings about the country she barely remembers — and built a work around her that became one of the most performed of its century. The character's song about the land where the lemon trees grow is still recognized by people who have never heard the opera it belongs to. American parents in the years after it opened were choosing a name they had heard sung rather than read, which is a different thing entirely, and it shows in the record: the name climbs and falls with the work's popularity.
Meaning
dainty, delicate, sweet
An ordinary French adjective, still in daily use, applied to small and appealing things. Its own earlier history is uncertain, but its modern sense is not, and it has never meant anything else in the time the name has existed.
How the name formed
- mignon
- Mignon
Related forms: Mignon · Mignonne
Pronouncing Mignon
MEEN-yon
Two syllables. The gn is the French sound English writes as ny, and the final n is nasal in French and usually not in America, where MIG-non is also heard.
Nicknames for Mignon
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
- 197955 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #695reached in 1885
- Change vs 2007
- +20.0%6 in 2013, from 5
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.
Mignon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mignon in French — same name
- Mignonne in French — spelling variant
Mignons among us
people named Mignon are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Mignon sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The meaning is warm, specific and immediately understood by any French speaker.
- It is genuinely rare and has been for its whole history in America.
- It has a soft shape that few English names manage.
- The steak is the association most Americans will reach for first.
- The French pronunciation is not what the English spelling suggests, and both will be heard.
- It is a description of smallness, which not every adult wants to carry.
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What they receive
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Mignon
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Mignons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Mignon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mignon in 2025?
- Mignon is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Mignon with classmates?
- Mignon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mignon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mignon and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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