Mickey
A diminutive form of the given name Michael, of Hebrew origin, meaning "who is like God".
Name Census estimates that about 23,674 living Americans carry the first name Mickey. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 80.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Mickey today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mickey births was 1957 (1,091 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mickey. 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 Mickey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
24K
~ 1 in 14,478 Americans
Peak year
1957
1,091 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,644
Tracked since 1898
Census
Mickey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 21,287 people with the first name Mickey, which placed it at #1,541 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
#1,541
National first-name rank
People counted
21K
21,287 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mickey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mickey is White at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Mickey 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 Mickey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.4% · 16,482
- Black or African American7.8% · 1,669
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 1,391
- Two or more races3.6% · 758
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 674
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 313
Gender
Gender distribution for Mickey
Mickey leans heavily male at 80.8% of total registrations, but 6,533 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mickey as a male name
- Ranked #1,644 in 2024
- 103 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (950 births)
Mickey as a female name
- Ranked #7,816 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1948 (231 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mickey leans strongly male. 17,363 people counted with this name were male (81.6%), compared with 3,925 female bearers (18.4%).
Popularity
Mickey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mickey from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 8,218 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mickey 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 Mickey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mickeys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. Texas, California, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Mickey, while Nevada, North Dakota, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 571 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mickey
Mickey is a diminutive form of the name Michael, which derives from the Hebrew name Mikhael. The name Mikhael is composed of two elements: "mi" meaning "who" and "kha'el" meaning "is like God". Thus, the original meaning of the name is "who is like God".
The name Michael first appeared in the Bible, where it referred to an archangel. It later became a popular name among Christians and Jews due to its religious significance. The shortened form Mickey emerged as a nickname for Michael in English-speaking countries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mickey was in the 13th century, when it appeared in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire, England. The name referred to a man named Mickey de Caerwent.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Mickey. One of the most famous was Mickey Mantle, an American professional baseball player who played for the New York Yankees from 1951 to 1968. He was born in 1931 and passed away in 1995.
Another well-known Mickey was Mickey Rooney, an American actor who had a career spanning nearly a century. He was born in 1920 and died in 2014.
In the world of music, Mickey Hart is a renowned American percussionist and drummer, best known as a member of the Grateful Dead. He was born in 1943 and is still active in the music industry.
Mickey Spillane was an American crime novelist who created the popular detective character Mike Hammer. He was born in 1918 and died in 2006.
Lastly, Mickey Thompson was an American racing driver, motorsports entrepreneur, and pioneer in the field of automotive aftermarket accessories. He was born in 1928 and tragically murdered in 1988.
While these are just a few examples, the name Mickey has been used throughout history by individuals from various fields and backgrounds, reflecting its enduring popularity as a diminutive form of the name Michael.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Mickey
People
Mickey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mickey 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
Mickey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mickey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23,674 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mickey 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 14,478 US residents.
Is Mickey a common name?
We classify Mickey as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 34,086 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mickey most popular?
The single biggest year for Mickey was 1957, when 1,091 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mickey is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mickey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 21,287 people with the name Mickey, or 7.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,541 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 Mickey 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 Mickey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mickey leans strongly male. 17,363 people counted with this name were male (81.6%), compared with 3,925 female bearers (18.4%). 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 Mickey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mickey is White at 77.4%. The next largest groups are Black (7.8%) and Hispanic (6.5%). 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 Mickey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mickey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.4% (16,482 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 Mickey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mickey a male name?
Yes, 80.8% of people registered as Mickey 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 Mickey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mickey 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 Mickey 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 have Mickey as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.