Manual
Manual was last recorded in 2010, when 6 babies were given it; 1,021 Americans have been recorded with it between 1910 and 2010 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Manual by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Manual mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Manual is “a male given name from Spanish: a rare spelling variant of Manuel, sometimes considered erroneous.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Manual?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #11,671, in 2010; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
23 babies in 1928, the peak
Manual peaked in 1928, when 23 boys were given it, #1,591 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 6 | #11,671 | 3.1 |
| 2008 | 5 | #13,839 | 2.5 |
| 2005 | 6 | #10,978 | 3.0 |
| 2004 | 5 | #12,514 | 2.5 |
| 2003 | 7 | #9,265 | 3.5 |
| 2000 | 5 | #11,508 | 2.5 |
| 1999 | 5 | #10,962 | 2.6 |
| 1998 | 6 | #9,202 | 3.1 |
| 1997 | 7 | #7,804 | 3.7 |
| 1996 | 9 | #6,311 | 4.8 |
Every recorded year (92)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 9 | #5,951 | 4.5 |
| 1991 | 11 | #4,970 | 5.4 |
| 1990 | 7 | #6,889 | 3.4 |
| 1989 | 7 | #6,660 | 3.5 |
| 1988 | 7 | #6,197 | 3.7 |
| 1987 | 9 | #4,798 | 4.8 |
| 1986 | 15 | #3,217 | 8.1 |
| 1985 | 7 | #5,523 | 3.8 |
| 1984 | 9 | #4,420 | 5.0 |
| 1983 | 9 | #4,357 | 5.0 |
| 1982 | 7 | #5,376 | 3.9 |
| 1981 | 14 | #3,147 | 7.8 |
| 1980 | 10 | #4,026 | 5.6 |
| 1979 | 9 | #4,266 | 5.2 |
| 1978 | 13 | #3,160 | 7.9 |
| 1977 | 5 | #6,457 | 3.0 |
| 1976 | 11 | #3,395 | 7.0 |
| 1975 | 9 | #3,823 | 5.8 |
| 1974 | 16 | #2,518 | 10.2 |
| 1973 | 13 | #2,807 | 8.3 |
| 1972 | 15 | #2,498 | 9.3 |
| 1971 | 9 | #3,553 | 5.1 |
| 1970 | 11 | #2,999 | 5.9 |
| 1969 | 12 | #2,632 | 6.7 |
| 1968 | 16 | #2,079 | 9.2 |
| 1967 | 17 | #1,948 | 9.7 |
| 1966 | 11 | #2,566 | 6.2 |
| 1965 | 13 | #2,328 | 7.0 |
| 1964 | 12 | #2,500 | 6.0 |
| 1963 | 9 | #2,979 | 4.4 |
| 1962 | 9 | #2,972 | 4.4 |
| 1961 | 15 | #2,202 | 7.1 |
| 1960 | 9 | #2,997 | 4.2 |
| 1959 | 10 | #2,758 | 4.7 |
| 1958 | 10 | #2,746 | 4.7 |
| 1957 | 12 | #2,442 | 5.6 |
| 1956 | 8 | #3,109 | 3.8 |
| 1955 | 16 | #2,019 | 7.8 |
| 1954 | 7 | #3,340 | 3.4 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,655 | 3.0 |
| 1952 | 11 | #2,453 | 5.7 |
| 1951 | 12 | #2,323 | 6.4 |
| 1950 | 15 | #1,990 | 8.4 |
| 1949 | 12 | #2,295 | 6.8 |
| 1948 | 6 | #3,541 | 3.4 |
| 1947 | 7 | #3,262 | 3.8 |
| 1946 | 10 | #2,495 | 6.2 |
| 1945 | 11 | #2,205 | 8.2 |
| 1944 | 7 | #3,024 | 5.1 |
| 1943 | 10 | #2,499 | 7.0 |
| 1942 | 9 | #2,639 | 6.5 |
| 1941 | 14 | #1,964 | 11.4 |
| 1940 | 11 | #2,265 | 9.5 |
| 1939 | 14 | #1,933 | 12.6 |
| 1938 | 8 | #2,787 | 7.2 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,615 | 8.4 |
| 1936 | 8 | #2,774 | 7.7 |
| 1935 | 9 | #2,645 | 8.6 |
| 1934 | 13 | #2,084 | 12.6 |
| 1933 | 15 | #1,880 | 15.1 |
| 1932 | 13 | #2,160 | 12.5 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,581 | 9.6 |
| 1930 | 12 | #2,396 | 10.9 |
| 1929 | 18 | #1,836 | 16.7 |
| 1928 | 23 | #1,591 | 20.8 |
| 1927 | 22 | #1,680 | 19.5 |
| 1926 | 17 | #1,955 | 15.3 |
| 1925 | 22 | #1,659 | 19.7 |
| 1924 | 15 | #2,182 | 13.2 |
| 1923 | 13 | #2,401 | 11.9 |
| 1922 | 15 | #2,198 | 13.8 |
| 1921 | 17 | #2,027 | 15.4 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,189 | 14.1 |
| 1919 | 19 | #1,787 | 19.4 |
| 1918 | 18 | #1,871 | 17.8 |
| 1917 | 11 | #2,508 | 11.9 |
| 1916 | 15 | #2,012 | 16.9 |
| 1915 | 21 | #1,538 | 24.7 |
| 1914 | 9 | #2,382 | 13.7 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,034 | 17.6 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,453 | 14.0 |
| 1910 | 5 | #1,756 | 25.7 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Manual a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Manual has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 92 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Manual: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Manual, and how old are they?
An estimated 499 Americans named Manual and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (49% of everyone recorded); the median is 54 years old and half are between 41 and 67. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 2,983 people named Manual (20 women and girls, 2,963 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 560 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5.3 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 193,763 babies since 1880, Manual is the second most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 860 babies recorded by SSA was a Manual (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Manual
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Manual and names like it
- Compare Manual and ManuelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sManual peaked in 1928.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Manual since 1910.
- The top names of 1928The year the most babies were named Manual.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Manual alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with MMost given first.