Makenah
An Arabic name meaning "homeland", "abode", or "dwelling place".
Name Census estimates that about 286 living Americans carry the first name Makenah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Makenah today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Makenah births was 2008 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Makenah. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
286
~ 1 in 1,198,442 Americans
Peak year
2008
29 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2018 SSA rank
#17,210
Tracked since 1996
Census
Makenah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 259 people with the first name Makenah, which placed it at #32,463 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#32,463
National first-name rank
People counted
259
259 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Makenah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makenah is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.4%) and Hispanic (7.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Makenah described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Makenah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.5% · 193
- Two or more races10.4% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 20
- Black or African American6.2% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 3
Popularity
Makenah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Makenah from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 164 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Makenah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Makenah by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Makenah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Makenahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Makenah
The name Makenah has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, dating back several centuries. It is derived from the Arabic root word "makana," which means "to settle" or "to establish." This suggests that the name may have been given to individuals who were known for their ability to establish themselves or their communities in a particular place.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Makenah can be found in historical texts from the 7th century, during the time of the Islamic expansion across the Middle East and North Africa. It is believed that some of the early bearers of this name were companions or followers of the Prophet Muhammad, who played a role in the spread of Islam and the establishment of new settlements.
In the 10th century, a woman named Makenah bint al-Hasan al-Hashimiya was a renowned scholar and poet in the city of Cordoba, which was then part of the Umayyad Caliphate. Her works and contributions to literature and intellectual discourse during that time have been documented in various historical records.
Another notable figure with the name Makenah was a 12th-century Sufi mystic and scholar from Persia, known as Makenah al-Baghdadi. He was known for his teachings on spiritual enlightenment and his writings on the mystical aspects of Islam.
In the 14th century, a woman named Makenah bint Abi Bakr al-Siddiq was a prominent figure in the court of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. She was known for her philanthropy and her support of various educational and religious institutions.
During the 16th century, a man named Makenah al-Ansari was a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist in the Ottoman Empire. He wrote extensively on Islamic law and jurisprudence, and his works were widely studied and referenced by scholars of his time.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Makenah. While the name may have fallen out of common use in recent times, its historical significance and deep roots in Arabic culture and Islamic tradition are undeniable.
People
Makenah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Makenah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Makenah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Makenah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 286 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Makenah going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,198,442 US residents.
Is Makenah a common name?
We classify Makenah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 290 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Makenah most popular?
The single biggest year for Makenah was 2008, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Makenah is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Makenah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 259 people with the name Makenah, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,463 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Makenah in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Makenah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Makenah appears almost entirely female. Of the 263 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Makenah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makenah is White at 74.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.4%) and Hispanic (7.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Makenah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Makenah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.5% (193 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Makenah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Makenah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Makenah in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Makenah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Makenah in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Makenah can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Makenah as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Makenah, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.