Mikkel
A traditionally Scandinavian masculine name derived from the name Michael, meaning "who is like God".
Name Census estimates that about 863 living Americans carry the first name Mikkel. It is a predominantly male name (97.3% of registrations). The average person named Mikkel today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mikkel births was 2004 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mikkel. 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 Mikkel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
863
~ 1 in 397,166 Americans
Peak year
2004
29 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,679
Tracked since 1947
Census
Mikkel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 888 people with the first name Mikkel, which placed it at #13,554 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
#13,554
National first-name rank
People counted
888
888 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mikkel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mikkel is White at 52.8%. The next largest groups are Black (23.1%) and Hispanic (13.0%). 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 Mikkel 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 Mikkel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.8% · 469
- Black or African American23.1% · 205
- Hispanic or Latino13.0% · 115
- Two or more races6.0% · 53
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Mikkel
Mikkel leans heavily male at 97.3% of total registrations, but 24 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Mikkel as a male name
- Ranked #6,679 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (29 births)
Mikkel as a female name
- Ranked #12,806 in 1995
- 6 female births in 1995
- Peak: 1994 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mikkel leans strongly male. 793 people counted with this name were male (89.8%), compared with 90 female bearers (10.2%).
Popularity
Mikkel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mikkel from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 246 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Mikkel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mikkel 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 Mikkel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mikkels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mikkel
The given name Mikkel has its origins in the Danish and Norwegian languages, and is a variant of the name Michael, which in turn is derived from the Hebrew name Mikha'el. The name Michael means "who is like God" in Hebrew, with "mi" meaning "who", "ke" meaning "like", and "El" referring to God.
Mikkel emerged as a popular name in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages, particularly in Denmark and Norway. It is believed that the name was introduced to the region through the spread of Christianity, as many biblical names became popular during this time.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Mikkel can be found in the Danish Chronicle of Saxo Grammaticus, written in the early 13th century. In this historical work, a character named Mikkel is mentioned as a Danish nobleman.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Mikkel. One of the most famous was Mikkel Rasmussen (1508-1584), a Danish Protestant reformer and theologian who played a significant role in the Reformation in Denmark.
Another prominent figure with the name Mikkel was Mikkel Pedersson (1543-1628), a Norwegian writer and historian who authored the first comprehensive history of Norway, known as the "Norges Beskrivelse" (Description of Norway).
In the field of art, the Danish painter Mikkel Sverre (1887-1964) gained recognition for his landscapes and portraits, and his works are held in various museums across Scandinavia.
Mikkel Arenfeldt Fjelldal (1910-1992) was a Norwegian architect and urban planner who made significant contributions to the development of Oslo's architectural landscape in the mid-20th century.
More recently, Mikkel Hansen (born 1987) is a Danish handball player who has won numerous championships and accolades, including being named the World Handball Player of the Year in 2011 and 2015.
While the name Mikkel has its roots in Scandinavia, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in regions with Danish or Norwegian cultural influence.
People
Mikkel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mikkel 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
Mikkel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mikkel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 863 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mikkel 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 397,166 US residents.
Is Mikkel a common name?
We classify Mikkel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 889 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mikkel most popular?
The single biggest year for Mikkel was 2004, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mikkel is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mikkel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 888 people with the name Mikkel, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,554 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 Mikkel 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 Mikkel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mikkel leans strongly male. 793 people counted with this name were male (89.8%), compared with 90 female bearers (10.2%). 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 Mikkel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mikkel is White at 52.8%. The next largest groups are Black (23.1%) and Hispanic (13.0%). 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 Mikkel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Mikkel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.8% (469 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 Mikkel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mikkel a male name?
Yes, 97.3% of people registered as Mikkel 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 Mikkel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mikkel 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 Mikkel 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 Mikkel as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Mikkel, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.