Makaylah
A feminine name with variations in origin and meaning including "precious gift", "loved", or "blessing".
Name Census estimates that about 3,112 living Americans carry the first name Makaylah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Makaylah today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Makaylah births was 2009 (225 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Makaylah. 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.
Key insights
- • Makaylah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.1K
~ 1 in 110,140 Americans
Peak year
2009
225 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,705
Tracked since 1992
Census
Makaylah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,315 people with the first name Makaylah, which placed it at #6,807 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
#6,807
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,315 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
41.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Makaylah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makaylah is Black at 41.7%. The next largest groups are White (30.5%) and Hispanic (16.5%). 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 Makaylah 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 Makaylah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American41.7% · 965
- White30.5% · 707
- Hispanic or Latino16.5% · 383
- Two or more races9.4% · 218
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 20
Popularity
Makaylah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Makaylah 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 1,553 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
Makaylah 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 Makaylah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Makaylahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Makaylah, while Oklahoma, Nevada, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 70 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Makaylah
The name Makaylah is a relatively modern invention, originating in the United States in the late 20th century. It is an amalgamation of the popular names Mackenzie and Kayla, combining elements from Scottish and Greek origins. The first part, "Mak," is derived from the Gaelic name Mackenzie, which means "son of the fair, bright one." The latter part, "aylah," is a variation of the Greek name Kayla, which means "laurel plant."
While the name Makaylah itself does not have a long historical lineage, its component parts have been in use for centuries. The name Mackenzie can be traced back to the 12th century, when it was a surname adopted by a Scottish clan. The name Kayla, on the other hand, has its roots in ancient Greek mythology, where the laurel plant was sacred to the god Apollo.
There are no recorded instances of the name Makaylah appearing in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records. However, some notable individuals who have borne this name in recent times include Makaylah Osborn, an American actress and singer born in 1997, and Makaylah Jones, a Canadian track and field athlete who competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Other individuals named Makaylah who have gained recognition include Makaylah Fayson, an American basketball player born in 2000, Makaylah Jordan, an American soccer player born in 1999, and Makaylah Deshields, an American softball player born in 1998.
While the name Makaylah is a relatively new addition to the world of given names, its popularity has grown rapidly in recent decades. Its unique blend of Scottish and Greek influences, combined with its modern and distinctive sound, has made it an attractive choice for parents seeking a name that stands out from traditional options.
People
Makaylah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Makaylah 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
Makaylah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Makaylah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,112 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Makaylah 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 110,140 US residents.
Is Makaylah a common name?
We classify Makaylah as "Rare". It ranks above 95.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,153 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Makaylah most popular?
The single biggest year for Makaylah was 2009, when 225 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Makaylah is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Makaylah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,315 people with the name Makaylah, or 0.77 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,807 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 Makaylah 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 Makaylah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Makaylah appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,312 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Makaylah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makaylah is Black at 41.7%. The next largest groups are White (30.5%) and Hispanic (16.5%). 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 Makaylah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Makaylah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.7% (965 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 Makaylah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Makaylah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Makaylah 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 Makaylah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Makaylah 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 Makaylah 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 common is the name Makaylah?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.