Makailah
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a variant of Michaela.
Name Census estimates that about 540 living Americans carry the first name Makailah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Makailah today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Makailah births was 2008 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Makailah. 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
540
~ 1 in 634,730 Americans
Peak year
2008
45 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,725
Tracked since 1994
Census
Makailah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 415 people with the first name Makailah, which placed it at #23,539 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
#23,539
National first-name rank
People counted
415
415 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
51.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Makailah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makailah is Black at 51.6%. The next largest groups are White (22.7%) and Hispanic (15.4%). 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 Makailah 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 Makailah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American51.6% · 214
- White22.7% · 94
- Hispanic or Latino15.4% · 64
- Two or more races9.4% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 4
Popularity
Makailah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Makailah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 306 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
Makailah 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 Makailah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Makailahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Makailah, while Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Makailah
The name Makailah is a relatively modern name with roots that can be traced back to the Hebrew language and culture. It is believed to be a combination of the Hebrew elements "mak" meaning blessing and "ilah" meaning God, suggesting the name means "blessed by God" or "God's blessing."
One of the earliest recorded instances of a similar name can be found in the Bible, where the name Micah (pronounced me-kah) appears as the name of a prophet in the Old Testament. While not an exact match, the similarity in sounds and the shared Hebrew roots suggest a possible connection between Makailah and this ancient biblical name.
Throughout history, variations of the name Makailah have been used, with spellings such as Mikayla, Michaela, and Micaela appearing in various cultures and languages. However, the specific spelling of Makailah appears to be a more recent interpretation, becoming more popular in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
One of the earliest known individuals with a name similar to Makailah was Micah, the Hebrew prophet who lived in the 8th century BCE. He was a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah and Hosea and is known for the biblical book that bears his name.
In more modern times, a few notable individuals have carried variations of the name Makailah. One example is Mikaela Shiffrin, an American alpine ski racer born in 1995, who has won multiple Olympic and World Championship medals.
Another notable individual is Michaela Coel, a British actress, writer, and director born in 1987, known for her critically acclaimed series "I May Destroy You."
Micaela Schäfer, a German model and actress born in 1983, is another public figure with a variation of the name.
Mikaela Shiffrin, mentioned earlier, is not only a successful athlete but also an author, having published a memoir titled "Courage to Soar" in 2022.
While the name Makailah itself may be relatively new, its roots in the Hebrew language and culture, as well as its historical connections to biblical figures like the prophet Micah, give it a rich and meaningful background.
People
Makailah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Makailah 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
Makailah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Makailah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 540 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Makailah 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 634,730 US residents.
Is Makailah a common name?
We classify Makailah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 547 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Makailah most popular?
The single biggest year for Makailah was 2008, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Makailah is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Makailah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 415 people with the name Makailah, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,539 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 Makailah 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 Makailah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Makailah leans strongly female. 416 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 9 male bearers (2.1%). 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 Makailah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makailah is Black at 51.6%. The next largest groups are White (22.7%) and Hispanic (15.4%). 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 Makailah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Makailah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.6% (214 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 Makailah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Makailah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Makailah in the SSA data are female. 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 Makailah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Makailah 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 Makailah 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 have Makailah as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.