Mileah
Feminine name with debated origins, possibly African meaning "worthy of praise".
Name Census estimates that about 419 living Americans carry the first name Mileah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mileah today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mileah births was 2011 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mileah. 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.
People living today
419
~ 1 in 818,029 Americans
Peak year
2011
28 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,123
Tracked since 1990
Census
Mileah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 349 people with the first name Mileah, which placed it at #26,600 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
#26,600
National first-name rank
People counted
349
349 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
38.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mileah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mileah is Black at 38.4%. The next largest groups are White (35.8%) and Hispanic (11.2%). 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 Mileah 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 Mileah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American38.4% · 134
- White35.8% · 125
- Hispanic or Latino11.2% · 39
- Two or more races10.3% · 36
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 6
Popularity
Mileah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mileah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 199 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mileah 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 Mileah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mileahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mileah
The name Mileah is a unique and intriguing moniker with a rich tapestry of origins and historical references. Its roots can be traced back to ancient Hebrew, where it is believed to be a combination of the Hebrew words "mi" (meaning "who") and "el" (meaning "God"), forming a name that essentially means "who is like God?". This name holds deep religious significance and was likely borne by devout individuals in ancient Israelite communities.
In the realm of ancient texts and scriptures, the name Mileah finds mention in the Book of Ezra, an Old Testament book that recounts the story of the Jews' return from Babylonian exile. Specifically, Mileah is listed as one of the Levites who assisted Ezra in his mission to restore the religious practices and teachings of the Jewish people.
The earliest recorded examples of individuals bearing the name Mileah can be found in ancient Hebrew manuscripts and genealogical records dating back to the 5th century BCE. One notable figure was Mileah ben Shemaiah, a prominent scholar and scribe who lived during the time of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
As the centuries passed, the name Mileah continued to be carried by notable individuals throughout history. In the 11th century CE, Mileah ibn al-Rabi was a renowned Jewish philosopher and poet who hailed from Cordoba, Spain, during the Golden Age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula.
Moving forward in time, Mileah de Lunel was a 13th-century French Jewish scholar and physician who made significant contributions to the study of Talmudic law and medicine. His works were widely read and respected among his contemporaries.
In the realm of literature, the name Mileah found its way into the writings of the celebrated 16th-century Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes. In his seminal work, Don Quixote, Cervantes introduces a character named Mileah, a young woman whose beauty and grace are praised by the novel's protagonist.
Another notable figure was Mileah ben Elijah, a 17th-century rabbi and scholar from Poland who authored several influential works on Jewish law and mysticism, solidifying his place in the annals of Judaic scholarship.
These are but a few examples of the many individuals who have carried the name Mileah throughout history, each leaving their mark on various fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of human civilization.
People
Mileah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mileah 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
Mileah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mileah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 419 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mileah 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 818,029 US residents.
Is Mileah a common name?
We classify Mileah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 424 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mileah most popular?
The single biggest year for Mileah was 2011, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mileah is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mileah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 349 people with the name Mileah, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,600 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 Mileah 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 Mileah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mileah appears almost entirely female. Of the 352 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Mileah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mileah is Black at 38.4%. The next largest groups are White (35.8%) and Hispanic (11.2%). 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 Mileah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Mileah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.4% (134 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 Mileah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mileah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mileah 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 Mileah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mileah 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 Mileah 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 Mileah as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.