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Manuela

#2,573 in 2025Girls' name

Feminine form of Manuel

Manuela has been given to 11,068 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #2,573 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1924, with 202 recorded.

Babies named Manuela, 2025

1 in 48,800

Manuela over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Manuela: meaning, origin, and history

Feminine form of Manuel

Portuguese, Spanish and English

What Manuela means

Manuela is a feminine form of Manuel.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Manuela → Manuel → Emanuel → Emmanuel → Immanuel. The family’s meaning is “God is with us”, recorded in English.

Origin, language, and formation

Manuela is used in English, Albanian, German, Hawaiian, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Its origins include Portuguese, Spanish and English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Manuel.

Pronunciation and spelling

In German, Manuela is pronounced /manuˈeːla/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 11,033 girls were recorded with the name Manuela between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 202 in 1924; its best national rank was #486 in 1920.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,018 in 2020 to #2,573 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,800 in 2015 to #2,573 in 2025.

In the United States, 35 boys were recorded with the name Manuela between 1926 and 1932. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1931; its best national rank was #3,289 in 1931.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Manuela?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 48,800
68 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 23,600
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,573
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
33,794 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Manuela sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5001%

Put another way: gather 33,794 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Manuela. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Manuelas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Manuela was born before 1948 — so the typical Manuela is around 77 today.

Median birth year
1948
About 77 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
17.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
16.8%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
5,306
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 17.2% of all recorded uses (1,895).

Is Manuela rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−481
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−555
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+227
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.08×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
33.7%
Peak was 1924 (202)
Years since peak
101
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
18.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#486
1920

Spellings of Manuela

Manuela is not the most common spelling — Angela is, with 85.4% against Manuela's 1.4%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Manuela is used

Across 2016–2025, Manuela was most concentrated in Massachusetts — about 1 in 4,000 girls, against 1 in 15,563 across all states with data. It was least common in Georgia (1 in 100,000).

125 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Massachusetts1 in 4,000
  2. 2Florida1 in 4,762
  3. 3Alabama1 in 16,667
  4. 4New York1 in 20,000
  5. 5Texas1 in 25,000
  6. 6California1 in 33,333
  7. 7New Jersey1 in 33,333
  8. 8Tennessee1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Manuela around the world

Where Manuela ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #2,006
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2013–2025
    #718
    in 2025
  • France
    1900–2025
    #1,442
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1993–2024
    #3,457
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1954–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Manuela

People whose public names include Manuela, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Manuela in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Manuela. Linked forms have their own page here.

NelaEmanuelaManuellaManuelleEmmanuellaManoela

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Manuela by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,573
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 555
Best rank ever
#486
1920
Peak year
1924
202 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
11,033
Count in 2025
68

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,289
1931
Peak year
1931
7 that year
First recorded
1926
Last recorded
1932
All-time count
35
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Manuela

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

MarielaIsabelaMarcelaMicaelaMandiMikaelaCarmelaMariselaMaricelaEstelaGracielaRafaelaMakaelaManiyahMandyMichelaGiselaAdelaIzabelaArielaDanielaManasviKaelaIsela

Names with a curve like Manuela

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Manuela, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

MillicentEsterMargretGeorgianaDorcasRevaPetraHellenEnidLeonoraRowenaRoma

Sibling names for Manuela

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Manuela

Top names of 1924, Manuela's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1920Girls' names starting with M