Mieka
A feminine name of Japanese origin meaning "beautiful blessing".
Name Census estimates that about 220 living Americans carry the first name Mieka. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mieka today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mieka births was 1974 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mieka. 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 Mieka with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
220
~ 1 in 1,557,974 Americans
Peak year
1974
15 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2019 SSA rank
#14,987
Tracked since 1972
Census
Mieka in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 261 people with the first name Mieka, which placed it at #32,310 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
#32,310
National first-name rank
People counted
261
261 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mieka
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mieka is White at 56.7%. The next largest groups are Black (24.9%) and Two or More Races (11.5%). 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 Mieka 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 Mieka at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.7% · 148
- Black or African American24.9% · 65
- Two or more races11.5% · 30
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 2
Popularity
Mieka: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mieka from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 61 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mieka 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 Mieka 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 Mieka
The name Mieka is believed to have its origins in the Finnish language, dating back to the late 19th century. It is thought to be a combination of the Finnish words "mie" meaning "person" and "ka" meaning "small" or "little," suggesting that the name Mieka may have originally referred to a small or little person.
In its earliest recorded use, the name Mieka was primarily found in the regions of Finland and other Scandinavian countries. Some historians suggest that the name may have been derived from an older Finnish word, "miekka," which means "sword," although this connection is not definitively established.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mieka can be found in the Finnish novel "Seitsemän veljestä" (The Seven Brothers) by Aleksis Kivi, published in 1870. In this classic work of Finnish literature, one of the female characters is named Mieka, although her role is relatively minor.
Throughout history, there have been a handful of notable individuals who have borne the name Mieka. One such person was Mieka Vuolle (1873-1956), a Finnish actress and singer who performed in several operatic productions in the early 20th century. Another was Mieka Kaurismäki (1924-2021), a Finnish writer and translator who was known for her work in children's literature.
In the field of sports, Mieka Hanikka (born 1983) is a Finnish basketball player who has represented her country in international competitions. Mieka Koski (born 1976) is a Finnish cross-country skier who competed in the Winter Olympics in 2002 and 2006.
Finally, Mieka Virtanen (1903-1984) was a Finnish politician who served as a member of the Finnish Parliament and held several ministerial positions in the mid-20th century.
While the name Mieka has maintained a presence in Finnish culture and history, it remains a relatively uncommon name globally, and its usage has been primarily concentrated in the Nordic regions.
People
Mieka + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mieka 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
Mieka: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mieka?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 220 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mieka 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 1,557,974 US residents.
Is Mieka a common name?
We classify Mieka as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 230 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mieka most popular?
The single biggest year for Mieka was 1974, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mieka is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mieka in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 261 people with the name Mieka, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,310 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 Mieka 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 Mieka?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mieka leans strongly female. 257 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 5 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Mieka?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mieka is White at 56.7%. The next largest groups are Black (24.9%) and Two or More Races (11.5%). 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 Mieka most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mieka in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.7% (148 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 Mieka in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mieka a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mieka 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 Mieka still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mieka 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 Mieka 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 Mieka?
See how many Americans are named Mieka on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.