Min - Name Meaning and Popularity -

Meaning of Min

Min is a unisex given name of East Asian provenance, encountered independently in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese naming systems and increasingly adopted in anglophone contexts for its succinct phonetic form. In Standard Mandarin (pronounced /mɪn/), it typically corresponds to logographs such as 敏 (“quick, clever”) or 民 (“people”); in Korean (pronounced /min/), it serves as a foundational syllable in compound names—Min-ji, Min-seok, and the like—conveying attributes of intelligence or acuity via Hanja; and in Japanese (pronounced /miːn/), it may be rendered with kanji such as 南 (“south”) or 民 (“people”), imparting directional or communal associations. Although it remains relatively rare in the United States, Social Security Administration data trace its intermittent appearance since the early 1970s—typically ranking between 660th and 910th and registering fewer than twenty annual occurrences—underscoring Min’s niche yet persistent appeal among parents seeking a concise, internationally resonant appellation.