Mykal
An English transcription of the Arabic name Mikhail, meaning "who is like God".
Name Census estimates that about 1,464 living Americans carry the first name Mykal. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 77.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Mykal today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mykal births was 1998 (79 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mykal. 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 Mykal with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 234,122 Americans
Peak year
1998
79 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,561
Tracked since 1972
Census
Mykal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,259 people with the first name Mykal, which placed it at #10,534 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
#10,534
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,259 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
38.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mykal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mykal is Black at 38.8%. The next largest groups are White (34.0%) and Hispanic (13.8%). 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 Mykal 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 Mykal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American38.8% · 489
- White34.0% · 428
- Hispanic or Latino13.8% · 174
- Two or more races11.4% · 143
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Mykal
Mykal is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,496 total registrations, 1,164 (77.8%) were male and 332 (22.2%) were female.
Mykal as a male name
- Ranked #13,561 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (59 births)
Mykal as a female name
- Ranked #15,087 in 2018
- 6 female births in 2018
- Peak: 1998 (24 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mykal on both sides of the split. Of the 1,259 people counted with this name, 946 were male (75.1%) and 313 were female (24.9%).
Popularity
Mykal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mykal from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 557 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mykal 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 Mykal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mykals live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Mykal, while Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mykal
The given name Mykal has its origins in the ancient Greek language, dating back to the 5th century BC. It is derived from the Greek word "Mikhail," which means "one who is like God." This name was popular among the early Christian communities in the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Mediterranean regions.
Mykal is a variant spelling of the more commonly known name Michael, which has been widely used across various cultures and religions. In the Bible, the Archangel Michael is mentioned as a protector and a leader of the heavenly hosts. This biblical reference likely contributed to the popularity of the name among Christian communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mykal can be found in the writings of the 5th-century historian Procopius of Caesarea, who mentioned a Byzantine general named Mykal. Another notable figure with this name was Mykal of Ephesus, a 6th-century philosopher and theologian.
In the Middle Ages, several individuals bearing the name Mykal left their mark on history. Mykal Psellos (1018-1078) was a renowned Byzantine philosopher, historian, and scholar who served as an advisor to several emperors. Mykal Keroularios (c. 1000-1059) was the Patriarch of Constantinople during a period of significant tension between the Eastern and Western Christian churches.
During the Renaissance period, Mykal Marullus (c. 1453-1499) was an Italian humanist and poet who played a role in the revival of classical literature. Mykal Servetus (1511-1553), a Spanish theologian and Renaissance humanist, made significant contributions to the study of anatomy and the understanding of pulmonary circulation.
In more recent times, Mykal Barishnikov (born 1948) is a renowned Russian-American dancer and choreographer who has had a profound impact on the world of ballet. Mykal Douglas (born 1944) is an American actor and producer, known for his roles in films like "Wall Street" and "Basic Instinct."
While the name Mykal has its roots in ancient Greek and Christian traditions, it has been adopted and adapted by various cultures throughout history, with each iteration adding its own unique flavor and significance to this timeless name.
People
Mykal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mykal 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
Mykal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mykal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,464 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mykal 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 234,122 US residents.
Is Mykal a common name?
We classify Mykal as "Rare". It ranks above 92.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,496 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mykal most popular?
The single biggest year for Mykal was 1998, when 79 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mykal is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mykal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,259 people with the name Mykal, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,534 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 Mykal 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 Mykal?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mykal on both sides of the split. Of the 1,259 people counted with this name, 946 were male (75.1%) and 313 were female (24.9%). 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 Mykal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mykal is Black at 38.8%. The next largest groups are White (34.0%) and Hispanic (13.8%). 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 Mykal most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Mykal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.8% (489 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 Mykal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mykal a male name?
Yes, 77.8% of people registered as Mykal 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 Mykal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mykal 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 Mykal 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 Mykal?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.