Mikel
A variant of the Hebrew name Michael, meaning "who is like God?".
Name Census estimates that about 11,278 living Americans carry the first name Mikel. It is a predominantly male name (92.0% of registrations). The average person named Mikel today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mikel births was 1989 (224 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mikel. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Mikel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 30,391 Americans
Peak year
1989
224 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,796
Tracked since 1882
Census
Mikel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,650 people with the first name Mikel, which placed it at #2,520 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
#2,520
National first-name rank
People counted
9.7K
9,650 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mikel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mikel is White at 57.7%. The next largest groups are Black (21.7%) and Hispanic (13.8%). 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 Mikel 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 Mikel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.7% · 5,564
- Black or African American21.7% · 2,093
- Hispanic or Latino13.8% · 1,327
- Two or more races4.6% · 441
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 143
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 82
Gender
Gender distribution for Mikel
Mikel leans heavily male at 92.0% of total registrations, but 995 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mikel as a male name
- Ranked #1,796 in 2024
- 91 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (201 births)
Mikel as a female name
- Ranked #12,130 in 2018
- 8 female births in 2018
- Peak: 1982 (44 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mikel leans strongly male. 8,777 people counted with this name were male (91.0%), compared with 867 female bearers (9.0%).
Popularity
Mikel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mikel from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,948 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mikel 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 Mikel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mikels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Mikel, while West Virginia, Massachusetts, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 186 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mikel
The name Mikel is derived from the Hebrew name Michael, which means "who is like God?". Its origins can be traced back to the 8th century BC in ancient Israel. The name is derived from the roots "mi" meaning "who" and "el" meaning "God".
In the Bible, Michael is one of the principal archangels and is described as the leader of the heavenly armies against Satan and his forces. He is mentioned in the Book of Daniel, the Book of Revelation, and the Epistle of Jude. The name gained popularity after the rise of Christianity and spread throughout Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mikel is in the 9th century AD, when it was used by a Basque prince named Mikel Semenovitch. The name was particularly popular in the Basque regions of Spain and France, where it was often spelled as "Mikel" or "Mikele".
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Mikel. In the 12th century, Mikel de Ahuntzio was a Basque writer and philosopher known for his works on ethics and metaphysics. In the 16th century, Mikel Elizaizkin was a Basque explorer who accompanied Juan Sebastián Elcano on the first circumnavigation of the world.
During the Renaissance, Mikel Angelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was an Italian artist, sculptor, and architect, best known for his masterpieces such as the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the statue of David. Another famous Mikel was Mikel Servetus (1511-1553), a Spanish theologian and polymath who was controversially executed for heresy.
In the 20th century, Mikel Unamuno (1864-1936) was a renowned Spanish philosopher, writer, and poet, known for his existentialist works and his opposition to the Franco regime. Mikel Foucault (1926-1984) was a French philosopher, social theorist, and literary critic, whose works explored themes of power, knowledge, and discourse.
People
Mikel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mikel 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
Mikel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mikel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,278 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mikel 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 30,391 US residents.
Is Mikel a common name?
We classify Mikel as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,471 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mikel most popular?
The single biggest year for Mikel was 1989, when 224 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mikel is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mikel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,650 people with the name Mikel, or 3.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,520 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 Mikel 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 Mikel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mikel leans strongly male. 8,777 people counted with this name were male (91.0%), compared with 867 female bearers (9.0%). 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 Mikel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mikel is White at 57.7%. The next largest groups are Black (21.7%) and Hispanic (13.8%). 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 Mikel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mikel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.7% (5,564 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 Mikel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mikel a male name?
Yes, 92.0% of people registered as Mikel in the SSA data are male. 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 Mikel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mikel 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 Mikel 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 the name Mikel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.