Monica
Masculine
Monica is given to girls far more often — 251,274 girls against 983 boys since 1880. See Monica as a girl name
Monica may not be a Latin name at all. Augustine's mother came from a Berber family in what is now Algeria, her name does not fit Latin patterns comfortably, and the likeliest explanation is that it belongs to the local language — which would make one of the best-known saints' names in Europe a piece of North African vocabulary nobody can translate.
How old is the name Monica?
Monica first appears in US birth records in 1948 — 77 years ago. The typical Monica alive today was born around 1980, making them about 45 years old. About 900 people named Monica are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Monica most popular?
Monica peaked in 1973, reaching #1268 nationally. See the whole 1973 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a name from Roman North Africa with no Latin explanation to Monica
The story of Monica
She is documented in unusual detail because her son wrote about her. The Confessions describe a woman who followed him from Africa to Rome and then to Milan, argued with him for years about his beliefs, wept at him, prayed at him, and was still going when he finally gave in — and who then died at Ostia waiting for the boat home. It is one of the few portraits of an ordinary provincial woman to survive from antiquity, and it survives because her son happened to invent the autobiography.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The traditional derivations are from a Greek word for alone or a Latin one for advising, and neither is convincing. There was a Numidian deity called Mon whose name appears in inscriptions near her home town, and the connection has been proposed seriously. Berber is poorly attested for the period, so the honest answer is that the name comes from a place we can locate and a language we cannot read enough of.
How the name formed
- a name from Roman North Africa with no Latin explanation
- Augustine's mother carries it in the fourth century
- the Confessions preserve her in detail
- the name spreads through the western church
- an American peak in the late 1970s
Related forms: Monica · Monica · Monica
Pronouncing Monica
MON-ih-kuh
Three syllables with the stress at the front in English. Spanish and Italian keep the same stress and give the vowels a purer sound.
Nicknames for Monica
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
- 1948
- Most boys named
- 198043 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1268reached in 1973
- Change vs 2001
- +50.0%9 in 2004, from 6
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.
Monica in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Monica in Italian — same name
- Monica in Spanish — same name
- Monica in Portuguese — same name
Monicas among us
people named Monica 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
Monica 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
- It works without alteration across most of Europe and Latin America.
- Mona and Nica are both available and belong to different centuries.
- It has a genuinely well-documented namesake, which most early saints do not.
- There is no established meaning, and the ones in name books are guesses.
- It is closely dated to the 1970s and 1980s in American use.
- A televised scandal of the 1990s attached itself to the name for a decade.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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Monica
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Monicas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Monica are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Monica in 2025?
- Monica is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Monica with classmates?
- Monica will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Michael#21 · Matthew#32 · Mark#244 · Mason#39 · Martin#335 · Marvin#699 · Melvin#958 · Marcus#258
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Monica? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Monica and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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