Mensa as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Mensa

What is the meaning of the name Mensa ?

The baby name Mensa is a Male name , 2 syllables long and is pronounced MEN-sah (IPA: /ˈmɛn.sə/).

Mensa is Akan in Origin.

Mensa is primarily an Akan (Twi and Fante) birth‑order name from Ghana meaning “third-born,” traditionally given to the third child, especially sons. Spelled Mensa or Mensah, the latter is especially common as a family name through colonial-era recordkeeping and remains widespread across Ghana and its diaspora. The name predates European contact in West Africa. It is unrelated to Manding Mansa (“king”) despite the similar look, and only coincidentally matches Latin mensa (“table”).

Outside West Africa, Mensa is rare as a given name but familiar as a surname and, secondarily, as the 18th‑century constellation Mensa (named for South Africa’s Table Mountain), which occasionally inspires modern, celestial-leaning babies. Variants and cognates include Mensah (orthographic variant) and the Akan sequence names Manu (“second-born”) and Anane (“fourth-born”).