Meklit
An Ethiopian feminine given name derived from the Semitic root meaning "humble".
Name Census estimates that about 493 living Americans carry the first name Meklit. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Meklit today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meklit births was 2017 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meklit. 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 Meklit with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
493
~ 1 in 695,242 Americans
Peak year
2017
40 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,716
Tracked since 2003
Census
Meklit in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 494 people with the first name Meklit, which placed it at #20,791 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
#20,791
National first-name rank
People counted
494
494 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
98.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meklit
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meklit is Black at 98.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.4%). 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 Meklit 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 Meklit at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American98.6% · 487
- White1.4% · 7
Popularity
Meklit: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meklit from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 305 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Meklit remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Meklit 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 Meklit during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meklits live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Washington, Texas, Maryland recorded the most babies named Meklit, while District of Columbia, Colorado, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Meklit
The name Meklit is a feminine given name of Ethiopian origin. It is derived from the Amharic language, one of the Semitic languages spoken in Ethiopia. The name is believed to have emerged around the 4th century AD, during the Aksumite Empire, which was a major naval and trading power in the region.
The name Meklit is thought to be derived from the Amharic word "mekelak," which means "plant" or "vegetation." This connection to nature and growth may have been significant in the naming traditions of ancient Ethiopia, where agriculture and the fertility of the land were highly valued.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Meklit can be found in the Kebra Nagast, a 14th-century literary work that recounts the glory of the Aksumite Empire and the legend of the Queen of Sheba. In this text, Meklit is mentioned as the name of a servant who attended to the Queen.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Meklit. One of the most famous was Meklit Abera (1976-present), an Ethiopian-American singer-songwriter known for her fusion of traditional Ethiopian melodies with jazz and folk influences. Her music has been celebrated for its artistic expression and cultural preservation.
Another notable Meklit was Meklit Hailu (1940-2019), an Ethiopian politician and women's rights activist. She served as a member of the Ethiopian Parliament and was a vocal advocate for gender equality and the empowerment of women in her country.
In the realm of literature, Meklit Lema (1928-2003) was an acclaimed Ethiopian author and playwright. Her works, which often explored themes of tradition, identity, and social change, were influential in shaping the modern literary landscape of Ethiopia.
Meklit Amare (1972-present) is a renowned Ethiopian painter and visual artist. Her vibrant and expressive works, which often incorporate elements of Ethiopian culture and tradition, have been exhibited internationally and are held in numerous collections around the world.
Meklit Yilma (1949-present) is an Ethiopian diplomat and former ambassador to several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. She has played a significant role in promoting international relations and representing Ethiopia on the global stage.
People
Meklit + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meklit 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
Meklit: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meklit?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 493 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meklit 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 695,242 US residents.
Is Meklit a common name?
We classify Meklit as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 497 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meklit most popular?
The single biggest year for Meklit was 2017, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meklit is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meklit in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 494 people with the name Meklit, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,791 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 Meklit 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 Meklit?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meklit leans strongly female. 493 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 7 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Meklit?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meklit is Black at 98.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.4%). 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 Meklit most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Meklit in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.6% (487 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 Meklit in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meklit a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Meklit 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 Meklit still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meklit 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 Meklit 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 Meklit?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.