Mikey
A diminutive form of Michael, derived from the Hebrew name Mikhael, meaning "who is like God?"
Name Census estimates that about 1,424 living Americans carry the first name Mikey. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Mikey today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mikey births was 2012 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mikey. 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 Mikey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 240,698 Americans
Peak year
2012
47 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,974
Tracked since 1922
Census
Mikey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,432 people with the first name Mikey, which placed it at #5,108 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
#5,108
National first-name rank
People counted
3.4K
3,432 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mikey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mikey is White at 51.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.3%) and Black (7.6%). 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 Mikey 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 Mikey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.9% · 1,781
- Hispanic or Latino28.3% · 972
- Black or African American7.6% · 262
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.3% · 215
- Two or more races4.4% · 151
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 51
Gender
Gender distribution for Mikey
Out of the 1,532 babies given the name Mikey since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Mikey as a male name
- Ranked #2,974 in 2024
- 42 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (47 births)
Mikey as a female name
- Ranked #16,801 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1945 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mikey leans strongly male. 3,288 people counted with this name were male (95.7%), compared with 146 female bearers (4.3%).
Popularity
Mikey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mikey from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 363 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Mikey remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mikey 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 Mikey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mikeys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Mikey, while Kentucky, New York, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 78 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Mikey
The name Mikey is a diminutive form of the given name Michael, which has its roots in the Hebrew language. Michael is derived from the elements "mi" meaning "who" and "cha-el" meaning "is like God?" or "one who is God-like." The name was borne by one of the archangels in the Bible and the Quran.
In ancient times, the name Michael was popular among Jewish and Christian communities. It has been used continuously in various cultures and languages, with different spellings and variations such as Micheal, Mikhail, and Miguel. The diminutive form Mikey emerged as a nickname, particularly in English-speaking countries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Michael can be found in the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament, where the archangel Michael is depicted as the protector of the Israelites. In the New Testament, Michael is mentioned in the Book of Revelation as the leader of the heavenly armies against the forces of evil.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Mikey or its variants. One of the most famous was Mikey Walsh (1939-2007), an Irish actor known for his roles in films such as "The Commitments" and "The Snapper." Another noteworthy individual was Mikey Dread (1954-2008), a Jamaican reggae artist and producer who helped popularize the dub and dancehall genres.
In the realm of sports, Mikey Garcia (born 1987) is a professional boxer from the United States who has held multiple world championships in different weight classes. Mikey Siavii (born 1983) is a former professional rugby league player from New Zealand who represented the Samoan national team.
Additionally, Mikey Whipkey (1898-1937) was an American baseball player who played in the major leagues for several teams, including the Cleveland Indians and the St. Louis Browns, during the 1920s and 1930s.
People
Mikey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mikey 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
Mikey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mikey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,424 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mikey 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 240,698 US residents.
Is Mikey a common name?
We classify Mikey as "Rare". It ranks above 92.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,532 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mikey most popular?
The single biggest year for Mikey was 2012, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mikey is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mikey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,432 people with the name Mikey, or 1.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,108 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 Mikey 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 Mikey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mikey leans strongly male. 3,288 people counted with this name were male (95.7%), compared with 146 female bearers (4.3%). 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 Mikey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mikey is White at 51.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.3%) and Black (7.6%). 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 Mikey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mikey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.9% (1,781 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 Mikey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mikey a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Mikey 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 Mikey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mikey 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 Mikey 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 are called Mikey?
You can see how many Americans are named Mikey on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.