Mikel
Mikel was given to 81 boys in 2025, #1,930 among boys’ names; 12,554 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 11,100 Americans named Mikel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (88% of everyone recorded); the median is 35 years old and half are between 20 and 52.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Mikel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Mikel mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Mikel is “a male given name from Basque, equivalent to English Michael.”
Borrowed from Basque Mikel.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Mikel?
#1,930 among boys’ names, 2025
Mikel fell from #1,229 in 2015 to #1,930 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 77.7 to 47.4 per million.
224 babies in 1989, the peak
Mikel peaked in 1989, when 224 babies were given it (198 boys, #696 among boys’ names). The 81 births of 2025 are 36% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 81 | #1,930 | 0.05 |
| 2024 | 92 | #1,789 | 0.05 |
| 2023 | 107 | #1,629 | 0.06 |
| 2022 | 116 | #1,547 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 111 | #1,571 | 0.06 |
| 2020 | 120 | #1,447 | 0.07 |
| 2019 | 121 | #1,447 | 0.07 |
| 2018 | 154 | #1,217 | 0.08 |
| 2017 | 138 | #1,311 | 0.07 |
| 2016 | 146 | #1,259 | 0.08 |
Every recorded year (105)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 149 | #1,229 | 0.08 |
| 2014 | 165 | #1,149 | 0.09 |
| 2013 | 155 | #1,165 | 0.08 |
| 2012 | 157 | #1,165 | 0.08 |
| 2011 | 159 | #1,139 | 0.08 |
| 2010 | 172 | #1,112 | 0.09 |
| 2009 | 166 | #1,116 | 0.08 |
| 2008 | 182 | #1,045 | 0.09 |
| 2007 | 184 | #1,025 | 0.09 |
| 2006 | 188 | #992 | 0.09 |
| 2005 | 181 | #965 | 0.09 |
| 2004 | 201 | #871 | 0.10 |
| 2003 | 166 | #970 | 0.08 |
| 2002 | 169 | #950 | 0.09 |
| 2001 | 180 | #878 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 188 | #850 | 0.10 |
| 1999 | 187 | #816 | 0.10 |
| 1998 | 169 | #859 | 0.09 |
| 1997 | 159 | #875 | 0.08 |
| 1996 | 170 | #837 | 0.09 |
| 1995 | 149 | #899 | 0.08 |
| 1994 | 153 | #864 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 189 | #760 | 0.10 |
| 1992 | 155 | #849 | 0.08 |
| 1991 | 186 | #745 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 182 | #752 | 0.09 |
| 1989 | 198 | #696 | 0.10 |
| 1988 | 161 | #746 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 136 | #795 | 0.07 |
| 1986 | 136 | #778 | 0.07 |
| 1985 | 157 | #703 | 0.08 |
| 1984 | 126 | #771 | 0.07 |
| 1983 | 141 | #728 | 0.08 |
| 1982 | 131 | #769 | 0.07 |
| 1981 | 126 | #777 | 0.07 |
| 1980 | 126 | #781 | 0.07 |
| 1979 | 133 | #752 | 0.08 |
| 1978 | 132 | #734 | 0.08 |
| 1977 | 130 | #750 | 0.08 |
| 1976 | 129 | #735 | 0.08 |
| 1975 | 132 | #721 | 0.08 |
| 1974 | 134 | #711 | 0.09 |
| 1973 | 106 | #775 | 0.07 |
| 1972 | 113 | #748 | 0.07 |
| 1971 | 126 | #738 | 0.07 |
| 1970 | 126 | #733 | 0.07 |
| 1969 | 120 | #716 | 0.07 |
| 1968 | 107 | #725 | 0.06 |
| 1967 | 105 | #724 | 0.06 |
| 1966 | 87 | #783 | 0.05 |
| 1965 | 103 | #733 | 0.06 |
| 1964 | 109 | #738 | 0.05 |
| 1963 | 112 | #734 | 0.06 |
| 1962 | 139 | #660 | 0.07 |
| 1961 | 136 | #669 | 0.06 |
| 1960 | 126 | #699 | 0.06 |
| 1959 | 148 | #636 | 0.07 |
| 1958 | 178 | #580 | 0.08 |
| 1957 | 194 | #556 | 0.09 |
| 1956 | 186 | #556 | 0.09 |
| 1955 | 153 | #596 | 0.07 |
| 1954 | 140 | #624 | 0.07 |
| 1953 | 190 | #512 | 0.10 |
| 1952 | 104 | #683 | 0.05 |
| 1951 | 116 | #652 | 0.06 |
| 1950 | 94 | #709 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 78 | #779 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 63 | #865 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 70 | #833 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 56 | #887 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 39 | #1,025 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 33 | #1,166 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 35 | #1,166 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 23 | #1,486 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 16 | #1,805 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 17 | #1,726 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 14 | #1,937 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 8 | #2,795 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 11 | #2,256 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 5 | #4,033 | under 0.01 |
| 1933 | 6 | #3,520 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 6 | #3,870 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 7 | #3,444 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 6 | #4,044 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,036 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 5 | #4,672 | under 0.01 |
| 1923 | 9 | #3,090 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 5 | #4,745 | under 0.01 |
| 1920 | 8 | #3,395 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 5 | #4,585 | under 0.01 |
| 1917 | 7 | #3,446 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 11 | #2,487 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 7 | #3,278 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,111 | 0.01 |
| 1882 | 5 | #1,044 | 0.04 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Mikel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 12,554 Americans recorded as Mikel, 8% are girls and 92% boys. In 2025 it went to 81 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Mikel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Mikel, and how old are they?
11,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 88% of the 12,554 Americans ever recorded as Mikel. The median Mikel alive today is 35 years old; half are between 20 and 52.
The 2020 Census counted 9,644 people named Mikel (867 women and girls, 8,777 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 10,861 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 91 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,710 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,920 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,720 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,980 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,660 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Mikel born?
The states with the most babies named Mikel are Texas, California and Florida, with 73% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 11 | #1,621 | 1.0× |
| California | 8 | #1,937 | 0.8× |
| Florida | 8 | #1,434 | 1.0× |
| New York | 5 | #1,951 | 0.4× |
| North Carolina | 5 | #1,407 | 0.5× |
Where Mikel is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Mikel is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1910 it was given 1.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Mikel with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 34,863 babies since 1880, Mikel is the most given (36% of them). In 2025 it was given to 81 of their 389 babies (21%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Mikel
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Mikel and names like it
- Compare Mikel and MikaelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sMikel peaked in 1989.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Mikel since 1910.
- The top names of 1989The year the most babies were named Mikel.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Mikel alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with MMost given first.