Minna

Girl · German

Minna

Say it: MIN-nah

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Usually a pet form of Wilhelmina, sometimes linked to Middle High German minne 'love'.

Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.

Lessing's comedy Minna von Barnhelm made the name familiar in the 18th century.

Its wave through time

Fading since the 1880s

In the United States

010203018801900192019401960198020002020Peak 1889per 100,000 babies of that sex
  • 3,010 babies given this name since 1880
  • At its height in 1889, about 1 in 4,100 girls
  • 32 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
  2. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914

Used by

GermanFinnishSwedish

The family of the name

Other spellings: Mina

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • Well-known works of literature
  • Parish baptism registers
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.