Manna
A surname that can reflect a simple word for “man” in Germanic naming, though in some cases it may also be tied to other local or family-name traditions.
The #9,466 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 89,830 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The historical sources point most strongly to a Germanic personal-name base related to the word for “man” (Old Germanic *mann-, Old English man, Old High German man). In that tradition, forms like Manna can arise as a short personal name or a surname from an old given name meaning simply “man” or “male person.” Because the excerpts also show Manna alongside several different continental forms, the surname may have more than one independent origin in different places.
History
The name appears in medieval and later records in several European naming traditions, especially Germanic ones. As with many short surnames built from common old personal names, it could have developed independently in more than one region. In English records, it is also possible that some spellings were influenced by similar-looking surnames or by local scribal variation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers often grouped Manna with a whole family of short names built from the old Germanic word for “man,” showing how common and portable this root was.
From the historical record
“MANLEYl (Eng.) Bel. to Manley = MANLY J I Manna 'sLea [A.-Sax. *Maman- ledh — Mannan, genit. of Mannd\ 2 the Common Lea [O.E. ge)mckne, common, public + ledfi]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)