Mikelle
A feminine name derived from Michelle, meaning "gift from God".
Name Census estimates that about 951 living Americans carry the first name Mikelle. It is a predominantly female name (92.2% of registrations). The average person named Mikelle today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mikelle births was 2022 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mikelle. 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 Mikelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
951
~ 1 in 360,415 Americans
Peak year
2022
37 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2022 SSA rank
#4,804
Tracked since 1969
Census
Mikelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 897 people with the first name Mikelle, which placed it at #13,450 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
#13,450
National first-name rank
People counted
897
897 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mikelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mikelle is White at 61.5%. The next largest groups are Black (23.7%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Mikelle 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 Mikelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.5% · 552
- Black or African American23.7% · 213
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 56
- Two or more races5.4% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Mikelle
Mikelle leans heavily female at 92.2% of total registrations, but 77 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mikelle as a male name
- Ranked #4,804 in 2022
- 21 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2022 (21 births)
Mikelle as a female name
- Ranked #14,644 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (29 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mikelle leans strongly female. 826 people counted with this name were female (91.3%), compared with 79 male bearers (8.7%).
Popularity
Mikelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mikelle from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 214 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Mikelle remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mikelle 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 Mikelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mikelles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mikelle
The name Mikelle finds its origins in the Greek language and culture. It is a feminine variation of the name Michael, which is derived from the Hebrew name Mikhael, meaning "who is like God?". The name Mikelle emerged during the Byzantine era, around the 5th to 6th century AD.
The name Mikelle was prevalent in the Greek-speaking regions of the Byzantine Empire, which encompassed parts of modern-day Greece, Turkey, and the Balkans. It was also used in regions influenced by the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition, where names with biblical roots were common.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mikelle can be found in the "Vita Basilii," a 10th-century hagiography (biography of a saint) written by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, which mentions a Byzantine noblewoman named Mikelle who lived during the 9th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Mikelle. One such person was Mikelle of Crete (c. 1050-1125), a Greek Orthodox monk and hymnographer who composed liturgical hymns and canons for the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Another prominent figure was Mikelle Akominatos (c. 1140-1220), a Byzantine Greek scholar, theologian, and Archbishop of Athens. He was known for his writings on theology, philosophy, and rhetoric.
During the Renaissance period, Mikelle Marulli (1453-1500) was an Italian humanist scholar and poet from Constantinople, known for her translations of ancient Greek texts into Latin.
In more recent times, Mikelle Pavlides (1890-1969) was a Greek actress and singer who gained popularity in the early 20th century for her performances in Greek operettas and revues.
Mikelle Chatzistefanidou (1939-2008) was a Greek poet and translator, renowned for her lyrical poetry and her translations of works by prominent poets such as Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.
While the name Mikelle has its roots in Greek and Byzantine culture, it has also found use in other parts of the world, particularly in regions with Greek diaspora communities or those influenced by the Eastern Orthodox tradition.
People
Mikelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mikelle 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
Mikelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mikelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 951 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mikelle 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 360,415 US residents.
Is Mikelle a common name?
We classify Mikelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 989 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mikelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Mikelle was 2022, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mikelle is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mikelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 897 people with the name Mikelle, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,450 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 Mikelle 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 Mikelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mikelle leans strongly female. 826 people counted with this name were female (91.3%), compared with 79 male bearers (8.7%). 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 Mikelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mikelle is White at 61.5%. The next largest groups are Black (23.7%) and Hispanic (6.2%). 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 Mikelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mikelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.5% (552 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 Mikelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mikelle a female name?
Yes, 92.2% of people registered as Mikelle 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 Mikelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mikelle 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 Mikelle 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 Mikelle?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Mikelle on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.