Mychal
Masculine name derived from Michael, meaning "who is like God?".
Name Census estimates that about 2,194 living Americans carry the first name Mychal. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Mychal today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mychal births was 1988 (225 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mychal. 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
2.2K
~ 1 in 156,223 Americans
Peak year
1988
225 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,534
Tracked since 1978
Census
Mychal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,901 people with the first name Mychal, which placed it at #7,833 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
#7,833
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,901 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
38.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mychal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mychal is Black at 38.3%. The next largest groups are White (37.8%) and Hispanic (11.6%). 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 Mychal 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 Mychal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American38.3% · 729
- White37.8% · 718
- Hispanic or Latino11.6% · 220
- Two or more races7.7% · 147
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 45
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 42
Gender
Gender distribution for Mychal
Mychal leans heavily male at 88.3% of total registrations, but 265 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mychal as a male name
- Ranked #13,534 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1988 (203 births)
Mychal as a female name
- Ranked #19,561 in 2008
- 5 female births in 2008
- Peak: 1988 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mychal leans strongly male. 1,636 people counted with this name were male (86.2%), compared with 261 female bearers (13.8%).
Popularity
Mychal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mychal from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 993 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mychal 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 Mychal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mychals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. California, Oregon, Texas recorded the most babies named Mychal, while Wisconsin, Tennessee, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mychal
The name Mychal is a variant spelling of the Hebrew name Michael, which means "who is like God?" or "one who is like God". It is derived from the Hebrew words "mi" meaning "who" and "cha-el" meaning "like God".
The name Michael has its roots in the ancient Hebrew culture and is one of the most revered archangels in the Bible and the Quran. In the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament, Michael is described as a protector of Israel and the leader of the heavenly armies.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mychal dates back to the 12th century when it was used as a variant spelling of Michael in Ireland and Scotland. The addition of the "y" was likely influenced by the Gaelic spelling of the name.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures named Mychal. One of the most well-known is Mychal Judge, the chaplain of the New York City Fire Department who was killed in the line of duty during the 9/11 attacks in 2001. He was born in 1933 and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal.
Another famous Mychal was Mychal Massie, an American conservative political activist, and columnist born in 1951. He is known for his outspoken views on race relations and political issues.
In the world of literature, Mychal Denzel Smith is an American author and activist born in 1989. He is best known for his book "Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching" which explores the experiences of black men in America.
In the realm of sports, Mychal Thompson is a former professional basketball player and current sports analyst. He was born in 1955 and played in the NBA for several teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers, where he won two championship titles.
Mychal Givens is a current professional baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles. Born in 1990, he is a relief pitcher and has been a part of the Orioles organization since 2015.
People
Mychal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mychal 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
Mychal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mychal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,194 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mychal 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 156,223 US residents.
Is Mychal a common name?
We classify Mychal as "Rare". It ranks above 94.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,267 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mychal most popular?
The single biggest year for Mychal was 1988, when 225 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mychal is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mychal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,901 people with the name Mychal, or 0.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,833 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 Mychal 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 Mychal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mychal leans strongly male. 1,636 people counted with this name were male (86.2%), compared with 261 female bearers (13.8%). 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 Mychal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mychal is Black at 38.3%. The next largest groups are White (37.8%) and Hispanic (11.6%). 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 Mychal most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Mychal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.3% (729 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 Mychal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mychal a male name?
Yes, 88.3% of people registered as Mychal 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 Mychal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mychal 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 Mychal 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 share the name Mychal?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.