Minh
Minh is given to both girls and boys: 7 girls and 43 boys were given it in 2025 (#12,752 among girls’ names and #2,914 among boys’, #5,654 among all names counting both); 2,409 Americans have been recorded with it since 1975 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,330 Americans named Minh and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 30 years old and half are between 16 and 40.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Minh by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Minh mean?
Wiktionary, Vietnamese section
Minh is “a male given name from Chinese”
Sino-Vietnamese word from 明.
[mïŋ˧˧]
Meaning: Wiktionary, Vietnamese section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Minh?
#2,914 among boys’ names, 2025
Minh rose from #3,006 in 2015 to #2,914 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 20.3 to 25.2 per million.
102 babies in 1982, the peak
Minh peaked in 1982, when 102 babies were given it (80 boys, #1,018 among boys’ names). The 50 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 49% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #12,752 | 43 | #2,914 |
| 2024 | under 5 | 39 | #3,140 | |
| 2023 | under 5 | 33 | #3,525 | |
| 2022 | under 5 | 22 | #4,645 | |
| 2021 | under 5 | 20 | #4,876 | |
| 2020 | under 5 | 28 | #3,777 | |
| 2019 | under 5 | 32 | #3,536 | |
| 2018 | 6 | #15,058 | 34 | #3,345 |
| 2017 | 7 | #13,653 | 36 | #3,231 |
| 2016 | 6 | #15,626 | 29 | #3,743 |
Every recorded year (51)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 6 | #15,793 | 39 | #3,006 |
| 2014 | 8 | #12,715 | 46 | #2,648 |
| 2013 | 6 | #15,926 | 23 | #4,267 |
| 2012 | under 5 | 46 | #2,662 | |
| 2011 | under 5 | 40 | #2,936 | |
| 2010 | 6 | #16,321 | 37 | #3,115 |
| 2009 | 7 | #14,733 | 35 | #3,251 |
| 2008 | under 5 | 47 | #2,662 | |
| 2007 | 8 | #13,506 | 45 | #2,708 |
| 2006 | 6 | #16,488 | 38 | #2,962 |
| 2005 | 6 | #15,803 | 41 | #2,683 |
| 2004 | 6 | #15,446 | 38 | #2,771 |
| 2003 | 14 | #7,860 | 50 | #2,191 |
| 2002 | 8 | #11,825 | 37 | #2,619 |
| 2001 | under 5 | 41 | #2,407 | |
| 2000 | under 5 | 30 | #2,962 | |
| 1999 | under 5 | 33 | #2,652 | |
| 1998 | under 5 | 28 | #2,898 | |
| 1997 | under 5 | 57 | #1,717 | |
| 1996 | 7 | #11,380 | 48 | #1,887 |
| 1995 | 8 | #10,188 | 40 | #2,078 |
| 1994 | 5 | #14,939 | 62 | #1,520 |
| 1993 | 7 | #11,354 | 58 | #1,564 |
| 1992 | 11 | #7,848 | 68 | #1,374 |
| 1991 | 5 | #14,605 | 42 | #1,878 |
| 1990 | under 5 | 50 | #1,647 | |
| 1989 | 14 | #6,029 | 46 | #1,692 |
| 1988 | 9 | #8,149 | 58 | #1,365 |
| 1987 | 11 | #6,617 | 50 | #1,452 |
| 1986 | 8 | #8,225 | 46 | #1,484 |
| 1985 | 14 | #5,249 | 59 | #1,253 |
| 1984 | 13 | #5,425 | 57 | #1,219 |
| 1983 | 17 | #4,409 | 70 | #1,064 |
| 1982 | 22 | #3,719 | 80 | #1,018 |
| 1981 | 16 | #4,661 | 67 | #1,121 |
| 1980 | 6 | #9,900 | 50 | #1,337 |
| 1979 | 8 | #7,773 | 35 | #1,656 |
| 1978 | under 5 | 20 | #2,344 | |
| 1977 | 5 | #10,667 | 16 | #2,750 |
| 1976 | under 5 | 21 | #2,216 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 6 | #5,236 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Minh a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,409 Americans recorded as Minh, 12% are girls and 88% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Minh: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Minh, and how old are they?
2,330 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 2,409 Americans ever recorded as Minh. The median Minh alive today is 30 years old; half are between 16 and 40.
The 2020 Census counted 17,886 people named Minh (3,922 women and girls, 13,964 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,168 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8.3 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 154 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,020 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 693 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 467 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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).
Where are babies named Minh born?
The states with the most babies named Minh are California, Texas and Pennsylvania, with 95% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 629 | #1,555 | 2.0× |
| Texas | 255 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 17 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Florida | 16 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Louisiana | 14 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| New Jersey | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| New York | 5 | not ranked | 0.0× |
| Virginia | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Washington | 5 | #1,096 | 0.1× |
Where Minh is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Minh is most over-represented in California: since 1975 it was given 2.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Minh with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 3,157 babies since 1880, Minh is the most given (76% of them). In 2025 it was given to 50 of their 50 babies (100%), again the most given.
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 Minh
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 Minh and names like it
- Compare Minh and MinBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sMinh peaked in 1982.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Minh since 1910.
- Chinese namesWiktionary’s origin for Minh: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1982The year the most babies were named Minh.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Minh alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with MMost given first.