girl's name

Monique

mo-NEEK

  • Origin French
  • Gender Girl
  • Syllables 2
  • Letters 7
  • Popularity Uncommon
  • Births on record 481,809

Northern Ireland

#369

1999 births

Monique is a girl's name, the French form of Monica, whose meaning is genuinely unknown despite the confident answers usually given for it. Our data marks it stable, though it now charts in only three of the seven markets we track.

  • Monique is a name of French origin.
  • Peaked in France in 1946, when 16,900 babies were given the name.
  • Its usage has held steady over the past decade in France.
  • Today about 1 in 117,911 babies in France is given this name.
  • First appears in birth records in 1900.
  • 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.

Monique over time

Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.

139,650
'00 '10 '20 '30 '40 '50 '60 '70 '80 '90 '00 '10 '20
Show the numbers
Births named Monique by decade in France
Decade Births
1900s 460
1910s 1,830
1920s 24,205
1930s 112,215
1940s 139,650
1950s 92,965
1960s 24,755
1970s 3,050
1980s 605
1990s 195
2000s 75
2010s 40
2020s (to 2025) 15

What Monique means

Monique has no established meaning. Advisor, from a Latin verb, and alone, from a Greek one, are both proposed, but the name may not be Latin or Greek at all.

Where Monique comes from

Monique is the French form of Monica, and Monica's origin is unresolved. It is often given as advisor, from the Latin monere, to warn or advise, and equally often as alone, from the Greek monos. Neither is secure, and the earliest known bearer points elsewhere: Saint Monica, the mother of Augustine of Hippo, came from Roman North Africa and her name may be Berber or Punic rather than Latin — possibly connected to a local deity. Augustine's Confessions records her persistence in praying for his conversion over decades, which made her the patron of mothers and of those with difficult children.

Monique in use

Monique peaked in France in 1946, when 16,900 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It now charts in only three of our seven markets — 2554th in Canada, 3356th in the United States on 46 births and 6102nd in France on 5 — across 481,809 lifetime births. It has effectively stopped being used in the country that made it, which is the same pattern as Bernard and Michel.

How popular is Monique?

In 2025, Monique was given to 5 babies in France. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.

Where Monique is used

Northern Ireland #369 3 in 1999
Ireland #513 5 in 2003
Scotland #535 6 in 2011
Canada #2,554 8 in 2024
England & Wales #3,138 8 in 2024
United States #3,356 46 in 2025
France #6,102 5 in 2025

The bar shows how near the top of each country's list the name sits, on a scale where #1 fills the row and #1,000 is a sliver. The figures beside it are the real rank and the babies recorded that year.

French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.

How Monique is spelled

Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.

Spelling What it is Births on record
Mo'nique Mo'nique is Monique written with an apostrophe, recorded mostly in England and Wales. 3

Names that peaked alongside Monique

These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.

Parents who like Monique also like

Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Monique over the last century — the same taste, a different name.

1 nickname for Monique

Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.

Every name with built-in nicknames →

Monique in other languages

The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.

Berber
Monica
Czech
Monika
Estonian
Monika
German
Monika
Greek
Monika
Italian
Monica
Latin
Monica
Latvian
Monika
Lithuanian
Monika
Polish
Monika
Punic
Monica
Slovene
Monika

Sibling names for Monique

Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Monique — the two things that make a sibling set grate.

Common questions about Monique

What does the name Monique mean?

Not established. Advisor and alone are both proposed, but the name may be Berber or Punic rather than Latin or Greek.

Is Monique the same as Monica?

Yes, it is the French form of the same name.

Who was Saint Monica?

The mother of Augustine of Hippo, from Roman North Africa, and the patron of mothers.

How popular is Monique?

3356th in the United States and 6102nd in France.

Is Monique a girl's or a boy's name?

Monique is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.

How many syllables are in Monique?

Monique has 2 syllables.

What are the nicknames for Monique?

Monique is usually shortened to Mo.

Is Monique a good name?

That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Monique currently ranks #2,554 in France. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.