Mega
Of Greek origin, signifying greatness, power, or large size.
Name Census estimates that about 240 living Americans carry the first name Mega. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 56.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Mega today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mega births was 2023 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mega. 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
240
~ 1 in 1,428,143 Americans
Peak year
2023
19 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,825
Tracked since 1974
Census
Mega in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 292 people with the first name Mega, which placed it at #30,039 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
#30,039
National first-name rank
People counted
292
292 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
37.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mega
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mega is White at 37.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.3%) and Black (24.3%). 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 Mega 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 Mega at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White37.7% · 110
- Asian and Pacific Islander25.3% · 74
- Black or African American24.3% · 71
- Hispanic or Latino10.3% · 30
- Two or more races2.4% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Mega
Mega is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 248 total registrations, 140 (56.5%) were male and 108 (43.5%) were female.
Mega as a male name
- Ranked #11,825 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (19 births)
Mega as a female name
- Ranked #14,401 in 1990
- 5 female births in 1990
- Peak: 1986 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mega on both sides of the split. Of the 293 people counted with this name, 73 were male (24.9%) and 220 were female (75.1%).
Popularity
Mega: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mega from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 80 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mega 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 Mega during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Megas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mega
The name Mega originates from the ancient Greek language, dating back to the 8th century BC. It is derived from the Greek word "megas," which means "great" or "mighty." This name was often associated with power, strength, and grandeur in ancient Greek society.
In Greek mythology, Mega was one of the names given to the goddess Cybele, who was the personification of Mother Nature and fertility. She was revered as the protector of cities and was widely worshipped throughout the Mediterranean region. The name Mega was also used in ancient Greek texts and inscriptions to describe heroes, rulers, and other individuals of great importance.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Mega can be found in the works of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who lived from 484 BC to 425 BC. He mentioned a Mega of Heraclea, who was a prominent figure in the city-state of Heraclea Pontica, located in modern-day Turkey.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Mega. One of the most famous was Mega of Smyrna, a Greek mathematician and engineer who lived in the 5th century AD. He is known for his contributions to the field of mechanics and for his work on the construction of siege engines and other military machinery.
Another notable figure was Mega of Constantinople, a Byzantine scholar and philosopher who lived in the 11th century AD. He was known for his commentaries on the works of Aristotle and his teachings on logic and metaphysics.
In the 13th century, there was a Mega of Trebizond, who served as a court official and diplomat in the Empire of Trebizond, a successor state of the Byzantine Empire located in modern-day Turkey.
During the Renaissance period, Mega Aleman, an Italian painter and architect who lived from 1475 to 1537, gained recognition for his work in the city of Genoa, Italy.
More recently, in the 20th century, there was Mega Fourio, a Greek poet and writer who was born in 1924 and died in 2005. He was known for his contributions to modern Greek literature and his exploration of themes related to Greek identity and culture.
People
Mega + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mega 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
Mega: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mega?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 240 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mega 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 1,428,143 US residents.
Is Mega a common name?
We classify Mega as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 248 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mega most popular?
The single biggest year for Mega was 2023, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mega is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mega in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 292 people with the name Mega, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,039 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 Mega 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 Mega?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mega on both sides of the split. Of the 293 people counted with this name, 73 were male (24.9%) and 220 were female (75.1%). 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 Mega?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mega is White at 37.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.3%) and Black (24.3%). 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 Mega most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mega in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.7% (110 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 Mega in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mega a male name?
Yes, 56.5% of people registered as Mega in the SSA data are male. 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 Mega still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mega 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 Mega 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 Mega?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.