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Manuela

girl name
Origin
Portuguese
Syllables
4
Peak era
1900s/2020s
Today
▬ Steady

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Meaning

“God is with us”

Famously borne by Manuela Saenz, whom Bolivar himself called the Liberator of the Liberator.

The story

Manuela is the feminine of Manuel, and the chain runs clean back to the Hebrew Immanuel, God is with us. History handed the name its defining bearer in one night: on September 25, 1828, when mutineers came for Simón Bolívar in Bogotá, Manuela Sáenz talked him out a window and faced the intruders herself, and Bolívar afterward called her the Libertadora del Libertador, the liberator of the Liberator. Quito-born, decorated with the Order of the Sun, she had already ridden through the wars of independence on her own account. Brazil has made the name young again: 178,058 Manuelas in the 2022 census, rank 186, with a median age of eight. The American record keeps a quieter, steady line, present in every decade since the 1890s. A gentle-sounding classic with the nerve of a revolutionary sewn into it.

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Manuela in song

Manuela
Julio Iglesias (1974)
Julio Iglesias at his most romantic, a ballad of complete devotion built around a name he cannot stop singing.

How popular is Manuela around the world?

In the United States, 485 babies were named Manuela between 2020 and 2025. In Montevideo, 91 girls named Manuela were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.

Manuela is on the official records of the United States, Montevideo, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Ireland, Austria, France, Poland, England and Wales, Mexico City and Canada.

Manuela crosses languages: it is in the latest top 300 of a Spanish-speaking record and of Brazil’s 2022 census, which counts people of every age. The full list: Spanish and Portuguese

United States

1 in 45,000

In the United States, 485 babies were named Manuela between 2020 and 2025.

peak 1900s2020s

Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Manuela peaked in the 1900s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure. In US birth records Manuela has stayed between 485 and 813 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.

Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration

See the full list for the United States →

Montevideo City

1 in 270 · 2011

In Montevideo, 91 girls named Manuela were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.

1940peak 2010

share of that year’s births on record

Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial

See the full list for Montevideo →

Spain

1 in 340

In Spain, 132,788 residents are named Manuela, the 27th most common name among women, with a mean age of 60.9 years.
In Spain, Manuela was the 28th most common name among girls born in 2024.

Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025

See the full list for Spain →

Brazil

1 in 1,100

At the 2022 census, 178,058 people in Brazil were named Manuela, the 186th most common name, with a median age of 8.
Among people named Manuela living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.

1930speak 2010s

people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth

The census also counted 44,583 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022

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Chile

1 in 5,400

In Chile, 33 girls were registered as Manuela in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.

peak 19222021

share of that year’s name registrations

First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021

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Argentina

1 in 11,000

In Argentina, 60 newborns were given the name Manuela in 2024.

2012peak 20162024

share of that year’s name registrations

Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024

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Ireland

1 in 14,000

In Ireland, 4 girls named Manuela were born in 2025, the 718th most common name among girls that year.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.

Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names

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Austria

1 in 19,000

In Austria, 4 girls named Manuela were born in 2025, the 858th most common name among girls that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.

peak 19842025

share of that year’s births on record

Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)

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France

1 in 26,000

In France, about 25 girls named Manuela were born in 2025, ranked 1,442nd among girls that year.

1900peak 19752025

share of that year’s births on record

Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)

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Poland

1 in 41,000

In Poland, 6 girls named Manuela were born in 2025, the 427th most common name among girls that year.

peak 20012025

share of that year’s name registrations

First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)

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England and Wales

1 in 42,000

In England and Wales, 14 girls named Manuela were born in 2025, ranked 2,006th among girls that year.

1996peak 2018

share of that year’s name registrations

Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales

See the full list for England and Wales →

Mexico City City

1 in 59,000

In Mexico City, there were 2 registrations of Manuela in 2022.

peak 20052022

share of that year’s registrations in the city

Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023

See the full list for Mexico City →

Canada

1 in 73,000

In Canada, 5 girls named Manuela were born in 2024, ranked 3,457th among girls that year.

1991peak 20132024

share of that year’s name registrations

First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)

See the full list for Canada →

South Australia

last on record 2016

Manuela is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.

Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names

See the full list for South Australia →

Not on the record in Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Scotland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.

Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.

All records: the most popular baby names around the world →

Names that fit alongside Manuela

Luisa Beatriz Lorena Lucia Carolina Catarina

Keep exploring

Portuguese and Brazilian baby names · Names of revolutionaries and liberators · Familiar but never popular

The Manuela deep dive

Written for you · $1.99 →

Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Manuela truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Manuela fits with your family’s names and surname.

Both reports, explained →

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