Makeila
An uncommon feminine name with potential origins meaning "blessed," "fruitful" or "abundant".
Name Census estimates that about 246 living Americans carry the first name Makeila. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Makeila today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Makeila births was 2010 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Makeila. 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
246
~ 1 in 1,393,310 Americans
Peak year
2010
19 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,967
Tracked since 1994
Census
Makeila in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 243 people with the first name Makeila, which placed it at #33,857 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
#33,857
National first-name rank
People counted
243
243 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
42.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Makeila
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makeila is Hispanic at 42.4%. The next largest groups are Black (22.2%) and White (15.2%). 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 Makeila 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 Makeila at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino42.4% · 103
- Black or African American22.2% · 54
- White15.2% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.1% · 27
- Two or more races9.1% · 22
Popularity
Makeila: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Makeila 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 112 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
Makeila 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 Makeila during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Makeila
The name Makeila is of uncertain origin, but it is believed to have roots in various ancient cultures and languages. Some scholars trace its origins to the Greek word "makarios," meaning "blessed" or "fortunate," while others suggest a connection to the Arabic name "Mekail," which is a variant of the biblical name Michael, meaning "who is like God."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Makeila can be found in ancient Sumerian texts, where it was used as a personal name for both men and women. It is thought to have been derived from the Sumerian word "ma-kil," which translates to "exalted one" or "high-ranking official."
In ancient Egyptian mythology, Makeila was the name of a minor goddess associated with fertility and childbirth. She was often depicted with a crown of reeds and holding a staff or scepter, symbolizing her divine authority.
During the Middle Ages, the name Makeila gained popularity in certain regions of Europe, particularly in parts of modern-day Italy and Spain. It was occasionally used as a feminine variant of the name Michelangelo, which was derived from the archangel Michael.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Makeila de Almeida was a Portuguese explorer and navigator who accompanied Vasco da Gama on his historic voyages to India. She is believed to have been born in 1482 and played a crucial role in establishing trade routes between Europe and Asia.
Another historical figure with the name Makeila was a 17th-century Italian painter known as Makeila Fontana. Born in 1592 in Bologna, she was renowned for her portraits and religious paintings, many of which can still be found in churches and museums across Italy.
In the realm of literature, Makeila was the name of a character in the epic poem "Paradise Lost" by John Milton, published in 1667. She was depicted as one of the fallen angels who joined Satan's rebellion against God.
Makeilab ibn Habib al-Nami, born in 789 CE in present-day Iraq, was a prominent Islamic scholar and theologian who made significant contributions to the study of hadith (prophetic traditions) and jurisprudence.
Lastly, Makeila Krasnoselskaya was a Russian ballerina and choreographer who lived from 1844 to 1922. She was a principal dancer at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and is credited with reviving and popularizing several classical ballet productions.
People
Makeila + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Makeila 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
Makeila: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Makeila?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 246 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Makeila 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 1,393,310 US residents.
Is Makeila a common name?
We classify Makeila as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 250 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Makeila most popular?
The single biggest year for Makeila was 2010, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Makeila 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 Makeila in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 243 people with the name Makeila, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,857 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 Makeila 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 Makeila?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Makeila appears almost entirely female. Of the 241 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Makeila?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Makeila is Hispanic at 42.4%. The next largest groups are Black (22.2%) and White (15.2%). 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 Makeila most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Makeila in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.4% (103 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 Makeila in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Makeila a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Makeila 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 Makeila still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Makeila 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 Makeila 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 Makeila as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.