Mykael
A masculine variant of "Michael", derived from Hebrew meaning "who is like God?".
Name Census estimates that about 652 living Americans carry the first name Mykael. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Mykael today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mykael births was 2010 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mykael. 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
652
~ 1 in 525,697 Americans
Peak year
2010
35 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,687
Tracked since 1986
Census
Mykael in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 539 people with the first name Mykael, which placed it at #19,554 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
#19,554
National first-name rank
People counted
539
539 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
46.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mykael
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mykael is Black at 46.0%. The next largest groups are White (25.6%) and Hispanic (18.9%). 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 Mykael 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 Mykael at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American46.0% · 248
- White25.6% · 138
- Hispanic or Latino18.9% · 102
- Two or more races6.9% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Mykael
Mykael leans heavily male at 81.0% of total registrations, but 126 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mykael as a male name
- Ranked #6,687 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (30 births)
Mykael as a female name
- Ranked #18,983 in 2010
- 5 female births in 2010
- Peak: 1994 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mykael on both sides of the split. Of the 541 people counted with this name, 393 were male (72.6%) and 148 were female (27.4%).
Popularity
Mykael: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mykael from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 243 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
Mykael 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 Mykael during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mykaels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mykael
The name Mykael is derived from the Hebrew name Michael, which means "who is like God?" or "one who is like God." It is a name with deep roots in ancient Judaic and Christian traditions, and has been in use for thousands of years.
The name's origins can be traced back to the biblical archangel Michael, who is mentioned in the Book of Daniel, the Book of Revelation, and other religious texts. Michael is often depicted as a powerful warrior and protector, leading the heavenly armies against the forces of evil.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mykael can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date back to the 3rd century BCE. These ancient Jewish texts contain several references to the archangel Michael and his role in the divine realm.
Throughout history, numerous notable figures have borne the name Mykael or its variations. In the 4th century CE, there was Saint Michael the Archangel, a revered figure in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. Another prominent bearer of the name was Michael III, who ruled as the Byzantine Emperor from 842 to 867 CE.
During the Middle Ages, the name Mykael was popular among European nobility and royalty. One of the most famous figures was Michael the Brave, a prince of Wallachia (modern-day Romania) who fought against Ottoman rule in the late 16th century.
In the arts and literature, the name Mykael has also left its mark. The English poet John Milton featured the archangel Michael prominently in his epic work "Paradise Lost," published in 1667. In the 19th century, the Russian writer Mikhail Lermontov, born in 1814, became a significant figure in the Golden Age of Russian literature.
Other notable individuals with the name Mykael include Michael Faraday, the pioneering British scientist and inventor born in 1791, and Michael Jackson, the legendary American singer and performer who lived from 1958 to 2009.
People
Mykael + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mykael 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
Mykael: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mykael?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 652 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mykael 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 525,697 US residents.
Is Mykael a common name?
We classify Mykael as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 663 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mykael most popular?
The single biggest year for Mykael was 2010, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mykael is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mykael in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 539 people with the name Mykael, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,554 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 Mykael 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 Mykael?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mykael on both sides of the split. Of the 541 people counted with this name, 393 were male (72.6%) and 148 were female (27.4%). 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 Mykael?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mykael is Black at 46.0%. The next largest groups are White (25.6%) and Hispanic (18.9%). 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 Mykael most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Mykael in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.0% (248 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 Mykael in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mykael a male name?
Yes, 81.0% of people registered as Mykael 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 Mykael still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mykael 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 Mykael 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 Mykael?
You can see how many people have the name Mykael on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.