Mekai
Unisex name of modern creation, meaning "blessing from God".
Name Census estimates that about 545 living Americans carry the first name Mekai. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mekai today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mekai births was 2005 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mekai. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Mekai with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
545
~ 1 in 628,907 Americans
Peak year
2005
36 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,639
Tracked since 1999
Census
Mekai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 367 people with the first name Mekai, which placed it at #25,720 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
#25,720
National first-name rank
People counted
367
367 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mekai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mekai is Black at 59.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (16.3%) and Hispanic (13.1%). 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 Mekai 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 Mekai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.7% · 219
- Two or more races16.3% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino13.1% · 48
- White7.6% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Popularity
Mekai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mekai 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 230 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Mekai remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mekai 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 Mekai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mekais live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Maryland, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Mekai, while Pennsylvania, Maryland, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mekai
The given name Mekai is believed to have its origins in the Akan language spoken by the Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast in West Africa. The name is thought to be derived from the Akan word "me-kai," which means "I am alive" or "I have life."
The name Mekai is thought to have been in use among the Akan people for several centuries, although the exact time period of its origin is uncertain. It is possible that the name was inspired by the reverence for life and the belief in the continuity of the soul held by many traditional African cultures.
While there are no known historical references to the name Mekai in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is possible that the name was used in oral traditions and folklore passed down through generations among the Akan people.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Mekai dates back to the late 19th century, when it was given to a child born in the Ashanti region of Ghana. However, the name did not gain widespread popularity outside of the Akan community until the 20th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Mekai. One of the earliest recorded was Mekai Nkrumah (1909-1972), a Ghanaian politician and activist who played a significant role in Ghana's independence movement.
Another notable Mekai was Mekai Lumumba (1925-1961), a Congolese independence leader and the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was assassinated in 1961, shortly after taking office.
In the world of sports, there was Mekai Griffey (born in 1970), an American former professional baseball player who played for several Major League Baseball teams, including the Seattle Mariners and the Cincinnati Reds.
In the realm of literature, Mekai Achebe (1930-2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who wrote extensively about the challenges of postcolonial Africa and the preservation of African culture and traditions.
More recently, Mekai Kalonda (born in 1980) is a South African actor and television personality who has appeared in numerous films and television shows, both in South Africa and internationally.
People
Mekai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mekai 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
Mekai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mekai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 545 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mekai 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 628,907 US residents.
Is Mekai a common name?
We classify Mekai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 550 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mekai most popular?
The single biggest year for Mekai was 2005, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mekai is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mekai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 367 people with the name Mekai, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,720 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 Mekai 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 Mekai?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mekai leans strongly male. 338 people counted with this name were male (91.4%), compared with 32 female bearers (8.6%). 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 Mekai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mekai is Black at 59.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (16.3%) and Hispanic (13.1%). 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 Mekai most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Mekai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.7% (219 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 Mekai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mekai a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mekai 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 Mekai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mekai 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 Mekai 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 Americans are named Mekai?
See how many people have the name Mekai on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.