Mekiah
A unique feminine name of uncertain origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 178 living Americans carry the first name Mekiah. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 60.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Mekiah today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mekiah births was 2002 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mekiah. 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
178
~ 1 in 1,925,586 Americans
Peak year
2002
25 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2020 SSA rank
#13,385
Tracked since 1997
Census
Mekiah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 206 people with the first name Mekiah, which placed it at #37,688 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
#37,688
National first-name rank
People counted
206
206 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
50.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mekiah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mekiah is Black at 50.0%. The next largest groups are White (22.3%) and Two or More Races (15.0%). 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 Mekiah 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 Mekiah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American50.0% · 103
- White22.3% · 46
- Two or more races15.0% · 31
- Hispanic or Latino9.7% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.9% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Mekiah
Mekiah is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 181 total registrations, 71 (39.2%) were male and 110 (60.8%) were female.
Mekiah as a male name
- Ranked #13,385 in 2020
- 5 male births in 2020
- Peak: 2002 (9 births)
Mekiah as a female name
- Ranked #18,614 in 2011
- 5 female births in 2011
- Peak: 2002 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mekiah on both sides of the split. Of the 211 people counted with this name, 92 were male (43.6%) and 119 were female (56.4%).
Popularity
Mekiah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mekiah 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 140 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
Mekiah 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 Mekiah 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 Mekiah
The name Mekiah is a relatively modern invention, likely arising in the late 20th century. It does not appear to have any clear linguistic roots or origin in a specific language or culture. The name may have been created as a unique or stylized variation of more common names like Micah or Mecca.
Despite its recent emergence, there are a few notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Mekiah. One of the earliest recorded instances is Mekiah Harkless (born 1983), an American football player who played defensive back in the NFL for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions in the early 2000s.
Another individual named Mekiah is Mekiah McDaniel (born 1987), an American professional basketball player who has played in several international leagues, including in Germany, Finland, and New Zealand. McDaniel attended college at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
In the realm of music, there is Mekiah Johnson (born 1991), an American singer and songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. Johnson has released several independent albums and EPs, showcasing her blend of R&B, soul, and pop styles.
Shifting to the field of academia, there is Mekiah Brantley (born 1977), an American educator and author. Brantley has written several books focused on empowering young people and promoting literacy, including "The Classroom Literacies: The Pursuit of Literacy Emancipation."
Finally, one of the more notable individuals named Mekiah is Mekiah Barney (born 1994), a Canadian professional soccer player. Barney has represented Canada at the youth and senior levels and currently plays as a defender for the Portland Thorns FC in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).
While the name Mekiah may be relatively new and lacking in deep historical roots, these individuals have contributed to its growing presence and recognition across various fields and disciplines.
People
Mekiah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mekiah 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
Mekiah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mekiah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 178 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mekiah 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 1,925,586 US residents.
Is Mekiah a common name?
We classify Mekiah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 181 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mekiah most popular?
The single biggest year for Mekiah was 2002, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mekiah 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 Mekiah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 206 people with the name Mekiah, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,688 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 Mekiah 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 Mekiah?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Mekiah on both sides of the split. Of the 211 people counted with this name, 92 were male (43.6%) and 119 were female (56.4%). 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 Mekiah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mekiah is Black at 50.0%. The next largest groups are White (22.3%) and Two or More Races (15.0%). 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 Mekiah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Mekiah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.0% (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 Mekiah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mekiah a female name?
Yes, 60.8% of people registered as Mekiah 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 Mekiah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mekiah 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 Mekiah 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 Mekiah?
See how many Americans are named Mekiah on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.