Minerva
2025 SSA
About Minerva
Minerva is the long-neglected name of the Roman goddess of wisdom and invention, the arts and martial strength, one of the mythology names for girls that might appeal to adventurous feminist parents. With Juno and Jupiter, she made the Capitoline triad, whose worship was at the very center of Roman religion.
Minerva Pott is a character in Dickens's novel Pickwick Papers. In Harry Potter, Minerva McGonagall is a Witch and Deputy Headmistress of Hogswarts, and in the Artemis Fowl books, Minerva Paradizo is equally intellectual. There's also a series of kids' mystery books centering around a Minerva Clark.
Minerva was a Top 500 name through the early 1920s, last appearing on the list in 1973. It's well liked on Nameberry though—currently at Number 417. Nickname Minnie fits right in with the other currently stylish vintage nickname names. Curiously, though, actress Minnie Driver was not born Minerva, but Amelia.
Pronounced mi-NER-va.
As of October 2026, Minerva ranked #2112 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #194 in 1880.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #3,402 | 47 | 26.3 |
| 2015 | #3,242 | 51 | 28.6 |
| 2016 | #2,687 | 65 | 36.7 |
| 2017 | #2,590 | 68 | 39.4 |
| 2018 | #2,250 | 82 | 48.2 |
| 2019 | #2,212 | 84 | 50 |
| 2020 | #2,518 | 69 | 42.7 |
| 2021 | #2,224 | 84 | 51.2 |
| 2022 | #2,265 | 83 | 50.6 |
| 2023 | #2,085 | 93 | 58 |
| 2024 | #2,446 | 74 | 45.7 |
| 2025 | #2,112 | 89 | 55.4 |
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Minerva on lists
Famous Minervas
- Minerva Urecal
American actress
- Minerva Teichert
American painter
- Minerva Josephine Chapman
American painter
- Minerva Cuevas
Mexican conceptual artist
- Minerva Parker Nichols
American architect
- Minerva Pious
American actress
- Minerva Mendez
American actress
- Minerva Vazquez
American reality TV contestant on "The Next Great Baker"
- Ida Minerva Tarbell
American muckraking journalist
- Minerva Mirabal
Dominican activist
Minerva in pop culture
- Minerva "Minnie" Swidt
character in "Christmas After All"
- Minerva
Roman goddess of wisdom
- Minerva McGonagall
character in the Harry Potter series
- Owl of Minerva
symbol used by the Illuminati
- Minerva "Min" Green
in "Why We Broke Up" by Daniel Handler
- Minerva Clark
protagonist in the series by Karen Karbo
- Minerva Louise
in a children's book series by Janet Stoeke
- Minerva
ugly stepsister in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella"
- Minerva Mink
character in animated series "Animaniacs"
- Minerva "Mini" McGuinness
character on TV's "Skins"
- Minerva Orland
character in the anime/manga "Fairy Tail"
- Minerva Edith 'Minnie' Donovan
character in television soap opera 'Prisoner Cell Block H'
- James Ratri aka William Minerva
character in the manga/anime series "The Promised Neverland"