Manasseh
given name · Latin script
Meaning: From the Hebrew name מְנַשֶּׁה (Mənaššeh), which is derived from the verb נָשָׁה (nāšāh), meaning 'to forget'
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/mənæsə/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Manasseh is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Nigeria than in any other country.
- NGNigeria≈1 in 13K(inferred from the name graph)
- USUnited States1 in 615K
- GHGhana≈1 in 25K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Nigeria (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 147 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 13K (inferred from the name graph)
≈16,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Nigeria, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
From the Hebrew name מְנַשֶּׁה (Mənaššeh), which is derived from the verb נָשָׁה (nāšāh), meaning 'to forget'. The name is traditionally interpreted as 'causing to forget', as explained in Genesis 41:51 when Joseph names his firstborn son.
Sources 1
- Biblical Names Compiled Database
Attested across 4 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Manasseh counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NG Nigeria | — | ≈16,000 est. | ≈1 in 13K | — | Manasseh | 52 |
| GH Ghana | #596 | ≈1,200 est. | ≈1 in 25K | — | Manasseh | 33 |
| US United States | — | 541 | 1 in 615K | 479 | Manasseh | 147 |
| ZA South Africa | — | ≈160 est. | ≈1 in 356K | — | Manasseh | 16 |
| PH Philippines | — | ≈140 est. | ≈1 in 811K | — | Manasseh | 12 |
| GY Guyana | — | 15 | 1 in 50K | 15 | Manasseh | 2 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; Guyana — Official List of Electors July 2025. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Manasseh is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
Manasseh is a Hebrew name meaning 'Forgetter.' In the Bible, Manasseh was a king of Judah who had the longest reign in its history. His story is a complex one of sin and, ultimately, repentance and forgiveness.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name signifies God's power to help one forget past toil, hardship, and separation from one's father's house.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
From the Hebrew name מְנַשֶּׁה (Mənaššeh), derived from the verb נָשָׁה (nashah), meaning "causing to forget".
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
A biblical name meaning 'causing to forget', symbolizing comfort and the ability to move past hardship.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The Hebrew name Manasseh (מְנַשֶּׁה, Mənaššé) means "causing to forget."
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Manasseh Cutlerb. 1742USAmerican clergyman, politician, botanist and collector (1742-1823)
- Sir Manasseh Masseh Lopes, 1st Baronetb. 1755JMBritish politician
- Manasseh Meyerb. 1843MYBritish businessman
- Menashe Kleinb. 1923UAnot in their usual nameRabbi of Ungvar community in Brooklyn, moved to Jerusalem at end of his life
- Menashe Razb. 1946ILnot in their usual nameIsraeli journalist
- Manasseh Sogavareb. 1955SBSolomon Islander politician (1955–), prime minister of Solomon Islands (2000–2001, 2006–2007, 2014–2017, 2019–2024)
- Manasseh Maelangab. 1970SBSolomon Islands politician
- Manasseh Ishiakub. 1983NGNigerian footballer
- Manasseh Iking of Khazaria
- Manasseh IIJewish ruler of the Khazars
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 30 sources across 21 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | wru Name Dictionary — US surnames, voter-file supplement (Khanna et al.) | — | — | — |
Reference works 2
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Manasseh mean, and where does it come from?
- From the Hebrew name מְנַשֶּׁה (Mənaššeh), which is derived from the verb נָשָׁה (nāšāh), meaning 'to forget'. Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
- What are other forms of the name Manasseh?
- In the etymology graph, Manasses and Menashsheh are forms of the same name in other languages.
- How do you pronounce Manasseh?
- A machine transcription gives /mənæsə/ (IPA) for English.
- Is Manasseh a male or female name?
- Manasseh is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- In which country does Manasseh have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 16 thousand people named Manasseh in Nigeria, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled manasseh.
- How common is the name Manasseh?
- In the United States, the national register counted 541 people named Manasseh in 2020, about 1 in 615 thousand residents.
- How common is Manasseh compared with other names?
- In Ghana, Manasseh is the 596th most common given name of 14,081 given names recorded there.
What do you want to know about Manasseh?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/manassehThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Manasseh” — the 596th most common given name in Ghana. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.