Miami
A unisex name derived from the Calusa term "mayaimi," meaning "very big water."
Name Census estimates that about 317 living Americans carry the first name Miami. It is a predominantly female name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Miami today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Miami births was 2022 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Miami. 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 Miami with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
317
~ 1 in 1,081,244 Americans
Peak year
2022
24 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2022 SSA rank
#11,808
Tracked since 1922
Census
Miami in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 354 people with the first name Miami, which placed it at #26,327 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
#26,327
National first-name rank
People counted
354
354 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
35.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Miami
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Miami is White at 35.6%. The next largest groups are Black (27.1%) and Hispanic (16.7%). 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 Miami 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 Miami at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White35.6% · 126
- Black or African American27.1% · 96
- Hispanic or Latino16.7% · 59
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.6% · 34
- Two or more races8.5% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Miami
Miami leans heavily female at 98.2% of total registrations, but 6 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Miami as a male name
- Ranked #11,808 in 2022
- 6 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (6 births)
Miami as a female name
- Ranked #14,637 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (20 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Miami leans strongly female. 310 people counted with this name were female (85.6%), compared with 52 male bearers (14.4%).
Popularity
Miami: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Miami from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 123 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Miami remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Miami 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 Miami 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 Miami
The given name Miami has its origins traced back to the Native American Mayaimi tribe, indigenous people who inhabited the region around present-day Miami, Florida, in the United States. The name is derived from the Calusa language, spoken by the Calusa people who were closely related to the Mayaimi tribe.
The earliest recorded use of the name Miami can be found in historical documents dating back to the 16th century when Spanish explorers first encountered the Mayaimi tribe in Florida. The name was documented in the writings and records of these early Spanish explorers and settlers.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear the name Miami was a chief of the Mayaimi tribe in the late 16th century, though his exact name and lifespan are not well documented. The name Miami was also mentioned in some early Spanish missionary records, referring to members of the Mayaimi tribe who were among the first Native Americans to be converted to Christianity.
In more recent history, the name Miami gained prominence as it was adopted as the name for the city of Miami, founded in 1896, which was named after the Mayaimi tribe that once inhabited the area. This helped to popularize the name and bring it into wider use.
Notable individuals throughout history who bore the given name Miami include:
1. Miami Norris (1881-1941), a Seminole leader and activist who played a significant role in the establishment of the Seminole Tribe of Florida reservation.
2. Miami Rhame (1891-1978), an American artist and sculptor known for her works depicting Native American themes and subjects.
3. Miami Mandelbaum (1914-2001), a French-American painter and sculptor whose works were influenced by her Native American heritage.
4. Miami Kawashima (1929-2018), a Japanese actress and television personality who appeared in numerous films and TV shows throughout her career.
5. Miami Whitedeer (born 1954), a Native American activist and educator who has advocated for the rights and preservation of indigenous cultures.
While the name Miami has been predominantly associated with its Native American origins and connections to the Miami tribe and the city of Miami, it has also been used by individuals of various backgrounds and cultures, though its usage remains relatively uncommon as a given name in contemporary times.
People
Miami + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Miami 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
Miami: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Miami?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 317 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Miami 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 1,081,244 US residents.
Is Miami a common name?
We classify Miami as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 337 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Miami most popular?
The single biggest year for Miami was 2022, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Miami 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 Miami in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 354 people with the name Miami, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,327 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 Miami 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 Miami?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Miami leans strongly female. 310 people counted with this name were female (85.6%), compared with 52 male bearers (14.4%). 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 Miami?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Miami is White at 35.6%. The next largest groups are Black (27.1%) and Hispanic (16.7%). 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 Miami most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Miami in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.6% (126 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 Miami in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Miami a female name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Miami 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 Miami still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Miami 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 Miami 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 share the name Miami?
Want to know how many people have the name Miami? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.