Mordecai
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "warrior" or "servant of Marduk".
Name Census estimates that about 1,381 living Americans carry the first name Mordecai. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mordecai today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mordecai births was 2022 (99 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mordecai. 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 Mordecai with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 248,193 Americans
Peak year
2022
99 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,046
Tracked since 1912
Census
Mordecai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 958 people with the first name Mordecai, which placed it at #12,822 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
#12,822
National first-name rank
People counted
958
958 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mordecai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mordecai is White at 54.3%. The next largest groups are Black (21.9%) and Hispanic (13.2%). 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 Mordecai 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 Mordecai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.3% · 520
- Black or African American21.9% · 210
- Hispanic or Latino13.2% · 126
- Two or more races6.2% · 59
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 14
Popularity
Mordecai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mordecai from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 514 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mordecai remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mordecai 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 Mordecai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mordecais live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. New York, Texas, California recorded the most babies named Mordecai, while Michigan, Washington, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mordecai
The name Mordecai has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture. It is derived from the Hebrew words "Mor Dekhya", which translate to "pure myrrh" or "warrior". The earliest known recorded instance of the name Mordecai dates back to the 5th century BCE, when it was mentioned in the biblical Book of Esther.
In the Book of Esther, Mordecai is described as a Jewish exile living in Persia during the reign of King Ahasuerus. He is credited with foiling a plot to assassinate the king and is also the cousin of Esther, who later becomes the queen of Persia. The story of Mordecai and Esther is celebrated annually during the Jewish festival of Purim.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Mordecai was Mordecai ben Hillel, a prominent Jewish scholar who lived in Germany during the 13th century. He was a renowned authority on Jewish law and authored several influential works on religious subjects.
In the 16th century, Mordecai Comtino was a renowned Italian Jewish scholar and philosopher. He was born in 1420 in Constantinople and is best known for his philosophical treatise "Or Adonai" (The Light of the Lord), which explored the relationship between Judaism and Greek philosophy.
Another notable figure named Mordecai was Mordecai Sheftall, a Jewish-American revolutionary who lived in the 18th century. He was born in 1737 in Savannah, Georgia, and played a significant role in the American Revolutionary War, serving as a commissary officer for the Continental Army.
In the 19th century, Mordecai Manuel Noah was a prominent American playwright, journalist, and diplomat. He was born in 1785 in Philadelphia and is best known for his efforts to establish a Jewish homeland on Grand Island, located in the Niagara River between New York and Ontario.
Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, born in 1890, was an American educator and minister who served as the first black president of Howard University from 1926 to 1960. He played a pivotal role in advancing educational opportunities for African Americans and was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement.
People
Mordecai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mordecai 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
Mordecai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mordecai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,381 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mordecai 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 248,193 US residents.
Is Mordecai a common name?
We classify Mordecai as "Rare". It ranks above 92% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,580 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mordecai most popular?
The single biggest year for Mordecai was 2022, when 99 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mordecai is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mordecai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 958 people with the name Mordecai, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,822 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 Mordecai 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 Mordecai?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mordecai leans strongly male. 948 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 14 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Mordecai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mordecai is White at 54.3%. The next largest groups are Black (21.9%) and Hispanic (13.2%). 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 Mordecai most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mordecai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.3% (520 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 Mordecai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mordecai a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mordecai 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 Mordecai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mordecai 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 Mordecai 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 are called Mordecai?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.