Mordecai
Mordecai was given to 70 boys in 2025, #2,100 among boys’ names; 1,650 Americans have been recorded with it since 1912 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,430 Americans named Mordecai and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (87% of everyone recorded); the median is 10 years old and half are between 5 and 21.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Mordecai by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Mordecai mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Mordecai is “a male given name.”
Borrowed from Hebrew מָרְדֳּכַי (mordocháy).
/ˈmɔː(ɹ)dəkaɪ̯/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Mordecai?
#2,100 among boys’ names, 2025
Mordecai rose from #2,318 in 2015 to #2,100 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 29.7 to 41.0 per million.
99 babies in 2022, the peak
Mordecai peaked in 2022, when 99 boys were given it, #1,716 among boys’ names. The 70 births of 2025 are 71% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 70 | #2,100 | 41.0 |
| 2024 | 74 | #2,051 | 43.0 |
| 2023 | 80 | #1,947 | 46.8 |
| 2022 | 99 | #1,716 | 56.7 |
| 2021 | 71 | #2,073 | 40.6 |
| 2020 | 84 | #1,795 | 48.7 |
| 2019 | 71 | #2,057 | 39.6 |
| 2018 | 63 | #2,200 | 34.7 |
| 2017 | 64 | #2,147 | 34.6 |
| 2016 | 68 | #2,080 | 35.8 |
Every recorded year (92)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 57 | #2,318 | 29.7 |
| 2014 | 52 | #2,451 | 27.1 |
| 2013 | 51 | #2,449 | 27.0 |
| 2012 | 38 | #3,038 | 20.0 |
| 2011 | 29 | #3,667 | 15.3 |
| 2010 | 21 | #4,632 | 10.9 |
| 2009 | 24 | #4,233 | 12.1 |
| 2008 | 19 | #5,006 | 9.3 |
| 2007 | 12 | #6,941 | 5.8 |
| 2006 | 20 | #4,627 | 9.7 |
| 2005 | 19 | #4,581 | 9.5 |
| 2004 | 23 | #3,956 | 11.6 |
| 2003 | 17 | #4,737 | 8.6 |
| 2002 | 12 | #5,953 | 6.2 |
| 2001 | 8 | #8,060 | 4.1 |
| 2000 | 10 | #6,672 | 5.1 |
| 1999 | 11 | #5,915 | 5.7 |
| 1998 | 10 | #6,148 | 5.2 |
| 1997 | 6 | #8,911 | 3.2 |
| 1995 | 6 | #8,523 | 3.2 |
| 1994 | 9 | #6,182 | 4.7 |
| 1992 | 10 | #5,522 | 5.0 |
| 1988 | 7 | #6,235 | 3.7 |
| 1987 | 8 | #5,286 | 4.3 |
| 1986 | 6 | #6,462 | 3.3 |
| 1984 | 9 | #4,434 | 5.0 |
| 1983 | 7 | #5,290 | 3.9 |
| 1982 | 12 | #3,621 | 6.6 |
| 1981 | 10 | #4,048 | 5.6 |
| 1980 | 6 | #5,996 | 3.4 |
| 1979 | 6 | #5,823 | 3.5 |
| 1978 | 5 | #6,454 | 3.0 |
| 1977 | 10 | #3,760 | 6.1 |
| 1973 | 10 | #3,367 | 6.4 |
| 1972 | 8 | #3,847 | 4.9 |
| 1971 | 5 | #5,409 | 2.8 |
| 1969 | 6 | #4,258 | 3.4 |
| 1968 | 5 | #4,547 | 2.9 |
| 1967 | 6 | #3,839 | 3.4 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,803 | 3.4 |
| 1965 | 13 | #2,337 | 7.0 |
| 1963 | 8 | #3,241 | 3.9 |
| 1962 | 8 | #3,223 | 3.9 |
| 1961 | 6 | #3,930 | 2.8 |
| 1960 | 12 | #2,499 | 5.6 |
| 1959 | 8 | #3,198 | 3.7 |
| 1958 | 8 | #3,196 | 3.8 |
| 1957 | 11 | #2,598 | 5.1 |
| 1956 | 5 | #4,302 | 2.4 |
| 1955 | 5 | #4,213 | 2.4 |
| 1954 | 10 | #2,682 | 4.9 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,671 | 3.0 |
| 1951 | 9 | #2,796 | 4.8 |
| 1950 | 7 | #3,231 | 3.9 |
| 1949 | 6 | #3,583 | 3.4 |
| 1948 | 5 | #4,019 | 2.8 |
| 1947 | 6 | #3,629 | 3.3 |
| 1946 | 5 | #3,858 | 3.1 |
| 1945 | 6 | #3,211 | 4.5 |
| 1944 | 7 | #3,036 | 5.1 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,145 | 4.9 |
| 1942 | 5 | #3,910 | 3.6 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,397 | 9.0 |
| 1936 | 5 | #3,904 | 4.8 |
| 1935 | 6 | #3,528 | 5.8 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,486 | 10.1 |
| 1932 | 6 | #3,641 | 5.7 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,426 | 10.6 |
| 1930 | 6 | #3,874 | 5.5 |
| 1929 | 11 | #2,550 | 10.2 |
| 1928 | 5 | #4,542 | 4.5 |
| 1927 | 5 | #4,605 | 4.4 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,048 | 5.4 |
| 1925 | 9 | #3,066 | 8.1 |
| 1924 | 7 | #3,733 | 6.2 |
| 1922 | 9 | #3,164 | 8.3 |
| 1921 | 5 | #4,768 | 4.5 |
| 1920 | 5 | #4,753 | 4.7 |
| 1916 | 8 | #3,097 | 9.0 |
| 1914 | 8 | #2,577 | 12.2 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,043 | 17.6 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,463 | 14.0 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Mordecai a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Mordecai has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 92 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Mordecai: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Mordecai, and how old are they?
1,430 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 87% of the 1,650 Americans ever recorded as Mordecai. The median Mordecai alive today is 10 years old; half are between 5 and 21.
The 2020 Census counted 962 people named Mordecai (14 women and girls, 948 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,005 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 16 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 83 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 75 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 79 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 275 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 897 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 8,560 babies since 1880, Mordecai is the second most given (19% of them). In 2025 it was given to 70 of their 308 babies (23%), again the second most given.
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 Mordecai
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 Mordecai and names like it
- Compare Mordecai and MordechaiBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sMordecai peaked in 2022.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Mordecai since 1910.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Mordecai.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Mordecai alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with MMost given first.