Monico
Masculine
Monico is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 787 boys against 17 girls since 1880.
Monico is what Spanish does that English cannot: take a woman's name, change the final vowel, and produce a man's name that everybody understands immediately. The record holds this spelling for boys and girls alike, which complicates the tidy story slightly.
How old is the name Monico?
Monico first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Monico alive today was born around 1974, making them about 51 years old. About 500 people named Monico are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Monico most popular?
Monico peaked in 1912, reaching #1885 nationally. See the whole 1912 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Monico
Spanish and Italian pair names by their endings as a matter of grammar: Paulo and Paula, Mario and Maria, Francisco and Francisca, Monica and Monico. The system is so regular that a speaker can form the opposite-sex version of almost any name without being taught, and native speakers do it playfully all the time. English has no such device. To make a woman's name from a man's, English has to borrow a French or Latin ending and bolt it on, which is why Roberta, Josephine and Pauline all look imported, and why the traffic almost never runs the other way. There is no English procedure at all for making a man's name from a woman's, which is one reason names crossing in that direction cause so much more comment.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name behind it has been read as Greek, as Latin and as North African, and the question is genuinely open. The masculine form has its own small saint's tradition in Spanish-speaking countries, and whether an American Monico comes from that or from the feminine is not recorded.
Pronouncing Monico
MOH-nee-koh
Three syllables with the stress in front, marked with an accent in Spanish. English speakers tend to press the second syllable instead.
Nicknames for Monico
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 197716 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1885reached in 1912
- Change vs 2021
- +16.7%7 in 2024, 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.
Monico in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mónica in Spanish — related form
- Monica in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Monicos among us
people named Monico 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
Monico 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
- Nico comes off the back of it as a short form and is entirely established on its own.
- The sounds are all available in English and Spanish alike, so nothing is lost in the crossing.
- It is recorded for boys and for girls, so it leaves a question open rather than closing it.
- The spelling is recorded for a few girls, but nearly every child with it is a boy.
- English readers will put the stress in the wrong place on first sight, and the accent that would help is usually dropped.
- The feminine form is far better known in the United States, so the name will be read as a variant of it.
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Monico
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Monicos 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 Monico are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Monico in 2025?
- Monico is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Monico with classmates?
- Monico 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 Monico? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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