Mulan
A feminine name of Chinese origin meaning "magnolia flower" or "wood orchid".
Name Census estimates that about 671 living Americans carry the first name Mulan. It is a predominantly female name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Mulan today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mulan births was 2020 (71 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mulan. 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 Mulan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
671
~ 1 in 510,811 Americans
Peak year
2020
71 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
1999 SSA rank
#2,543
Tracked since 1998
Census
Mulan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 480 people with the first name Mulan, which placed it at #21,231 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
#21,231
National first-name rank
People counted
480
480 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
49.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mulan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mulan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 49.2%. The next largest groups are Black (30.4%) and Hispanic (8.1%). 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 Mulan 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 Mulan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander49.2% · 236
- Black or African American30.4% · 146
- Hispanic or Latino8.1% · 39
- Two or more races7.3% · 35
- White4.4% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Mulan
Out of the 676 babies given the name Mulan since 1880, 99.3% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Mulan as a male name
- Ranked #11,056 in 1999
- 5 male births in 1999
- Peak: 1999 (5 births)
Mulan as a female name
- Ranked #2,543 in 2024
- 70 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (71 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mulan leans strongly female. 453 people counted with this name were female (95.6%), compared with 21 male bearers (4.4%).
Popularity
Mulan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mulan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 306 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mulan 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 Mulan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mulans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Mulan, while Michigan, Texas, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mulan
The name Mulan originates from China and is a feminine name derived from the Chinese word "木蘭" (Mùlán), which means "wooden orchid" or "magnolia." The name has a rich historical and cultural significance in Chinese literature and folklore.
The name Mulan gained widespread recognition from the famous Chinese folk tale "The Ballad of Mulan," which dates back to the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 CE). In the ballad, Mulan is a young woman who disguises herself as a man to take her aging father's place in the army and defend the country against invaders. After serving honorably for twelve years, she returns home and resumes her life as a woman.
The earliest recorded mention of the name Mulan can be found in the "Music Bureau Collection" (Yuefu Shiji), a compilation of folk songs and poems from the Northern Wei Dynasty. The ballad is believed to have originated during the Northern Wei period or earlier, reflecting the cultural values of filial piety and courage.
Throughout history, the name Mulan has been associated with various notable figures, including Hua Mulan (around 6th century CE), the legendary female warrior who inspired the folk tale. Another notable figure was Qin Mulan (1513-1611), a poet and calligrapher during the Ming Dynasty.
Other historical figures with the name Mulan include:
1. Mulan Jingzhong (1570-1619), a Ming Dynasty official and scholar known for her literary works and calligraphy.
2. Mulan Xingdao (1624-1679), a Buddhist nun and poet during the Qing Dynasty.
3. Mulan Weiyuan (1609-1671), a Ming Dynasty scholar and official known for her expertise in the Confucian classics.
4. Mulan Zhuren (1761-1832), a Qing Dynasty scholar and writer who authored works on Confucian philosophy and literature.
5. Mulan Yuzhuo (1834-1901), a late Qing Dynasty scholar and official known for her contributions to education and women's rights.
The name Mulan has gained renewed popularity and recognition in modern times, largely due to the 1998 Disney animated film "Mulan," which was inspired by the ancient Chinese folk tale. The film's impact has introduced the name and its associated themes of courage and filial piety to a global audience.
People
Mulan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mulan 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
Mulan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mulan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 671 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mulan 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 510,811 US residents.
Is Mulan a common name?
We classify Mulan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 676 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mulan most popular?
The single biggest year for Mulan was 2020, when 71 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mulan is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mulan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 480 people with the name Mulan, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,231 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 Mulan 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 Mulan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mulan leans strongly female. 453 people counted with this name were female (95.6%), compared with 21 male bearers (4.4%). 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 Mulan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mulan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 49.2%. The next largest groups are Black (30.4%) and Hispanic (8.1%). 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 Mulan most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Mulan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.2% (236 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 Mulan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mulan a female name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Mulan 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 Mulan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mulan 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 Mulan 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 Americans are named Mulan?
See how many people share the name Mulan on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.