Mordechai
A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "warrior" or "servant of Marduk".
Name Census estimates that about 6,445 living Americans carry the first name Mordechai. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mordechai today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mordechai births was 2018 (315 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mordechai. 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 Mordechai with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.4K
~ 1 in 53,181 Americans
Peak year
2018
315 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#966
Tracked since 1950
Census
Mordechai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,848 people with the first name Mordechai, which placed it at #4,009 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
#4,009
National first-name rank
People counted
4.8K
4,848 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
98.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mordechai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mordechai is White at 98.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.7%) and Two or More Races (0.5%). 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 Mordechai 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 Mordechai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White98.1% · 4,755
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 34
- Two or more races0.5% · 22
- Black or African American0.4% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 3
Popularity
Mordechai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mordechai from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,100 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mordechai remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mordechai 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 Mordechai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mordechais live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, California recorded the most babies named Mordechai, while Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 837 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mordechai
The name Mordechai is a Hebrew name derived from the Biblical figure Mordechai, who appears in the Book of Esther. It is believed to have originated from the Persian name Mardukha, which was related to the Babylonian god Marduk. The name Mordechai gained widespread usage among Jewish communities worldwide, particularly after the events described in the Book of Esther.
In the Book of Esther, Mordechai is depicted as the cousin and guardian of Queen Esther, who played a pivotal role in saving the Jewish people from genocide at the hands of the Persian king's advisor, Haman. Mordechai's refusal to bow down to Haman led to a plot to annihilate the Jews, which was ultimately foiled through the bravery of Esther and the intervention of the king.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mordechai can be found in the Book of Esther itself, which is believed to have been written around the 5th century BCE. Throughout Jewish history, the name has held significant cultural and religious importance, often given to commemorate the heroic actions of the Biblical figure.
Mordechai Gur (1935-1995) was an Israeli military leader who served as the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 1972 to 1978. He played a crucial role in the Yom Kippur War and is credited with turning the tide of the conflict in Israel's favor.
Mordechai Vanunu (born 1954) is an Israeli former nuclear technician who revealed details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986. His actions led to his imprisonment for 18 years and sparked international debate about nuclear proliferation and whistleblowing.
Mordechai Kaplan (1881-1983) was an American rabbi and philosopher who founded the Reconstructionist movement in Judaism. He aimed to modernize and adapt Jewish thought and practice to the contemporary world, emphasizing the evolving nature of Jewish civilization.
Mordechai Anielewicz (1919-1943) was a Polish-Jewish resistance leader who commanded the Jewish Combat Organization during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the German occupiers in 1943. He became a symbol of Jewish resistance against the Nazi regime.
Mordechai Ardon (1896-1992) was an Israeli painter and sculptor, considered one of the leading figures in the development of modern Israeli art. His works were influenced by Cubism and explored themes of the Israeli landscape and Jewish identity.
People
Mordechai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mordechai 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
Mordechai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mordechai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,445 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mordechai 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 53,181 US residents.
Is Mordechai a common name?
We classify Mordechai as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,578 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mordechai most popular?
The single biggest year for Mordechai was 2018, when 315 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mordechai 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 Mordechai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,848 people with the name Mordechai, or 1.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,009 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 Mordechai 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 Mordechai?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mordechai appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,847 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Mordechai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mordechai is White at 98.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.7%) and Two or More Races (0.5%). 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 Mordechai most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mordechai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.1% (4,755 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 Mordechai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mordechai a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mordechai 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 Mordechai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mordechai 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 Mordechai 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 named Mordechai?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.