Mit
A masculine name derived from the Sanskrit word "mitra," meaning friend or companion.
Name Census estimates that about 45 living Americans carry the first name Mit. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mit today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mit births was 2003 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mit. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Mit. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
45
~ 1 in 7,616,763 Americans
Peak year
2003
9 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2011 SSA rank
#13,674
Tracked since 1997
Census
Mit in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 324 people with the first name Mit, which placed it at #27,953 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
#27,953
National first-name rank
People counted
324
324 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
79.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mit
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mit is Asian/Pacific Islander at 79.9%. The next largest groups are White (9.9%) and Black (5.2%). 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 Mit 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 Mit at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander79.9% · 259
- White9.9% · 32
- Black or African American5.2% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 7
- Two or more races1.5% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 4
Popularity
Mit: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mit from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 36 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mit 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 Mit 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 Mit
The name Mit has its origins in ancient Sanskrit, one of the oldest Indo-European languages spoken on the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "mitra," meaning friend, ally, or companion. The name Mit likely emerged as a shortened version of Mitra in various regional dialects across the Indian subcontinent.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Mitra can be found in the Rigveda, a sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dating back to around 1500 BCE. In Hindu mythology, Mitra is the name of a deity associated with friendship, contracts, and the sun. The Avestan language, an ancient Iranian language closely related to Sanskrit, also has a similar word "Mithra" referring to a divine being.
The earliest known individual with the name Mit is Mit Nath, a renowned Indian yogi and saint who lived in the 15th century CE. He is considered one of the most influential figures in the Nath tradition of Hinduism and is revered for his teachings on yoga and spirituality.
Another notable figure in history with the name Mit is Mit Singh Sethi, a prominent Sikh warrior and military leader who lived in the 18th century. He played a crucial role in defending the Sikh homeland of Punjab against the Afghan Durrani Empire and is remembered for his bravery and strategic military tactics.
In the realm of literature, Mit Vohara is a celebrated Gujarati poet and writer from the 20th century, known for his contributions to modern Gujarati poetry. He was born in 1912 and his works explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition.
Moving to the field of science, Mit Bullock was an American physicist and engineer who made significant contributions to the development of radar technology during World War II. He was born in 1904 and played a crucial role in the advancement of radar systems used by the Allied forces.
Finally, Mit Gardi is a contemporary Kurdish singer and musician from Iran, known for popularizing traditional Kurdish music and bringing it to a global audience. Born in 1980, he has released several critically acclaimed albums and has been an influential figure in promoting Kurdish culture through his music.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Mit, highlighting its diverse cultural and linguistic origins, as well as its presence across various fields and time periods.
People
Mit + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mit 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
Mit: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mit?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 45 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mit 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 7,616,763 US residents.
Is Mit a common name?
We classify Mit as "Very Rare". It ranks above 52.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 46 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mit most popular?
The single biggest year for Mit was 2003, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mit is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mit in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 324 people with the name Mit, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,953 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 Mit 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 Mit?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mit leans strongly male. 269 people counted with this name were male (82.8%), compared with 56 female bearers (17.2%). 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 Mit?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mit is Asian/Pacific Islander at 79.9%. The next largest groups are White (9.9%) and Black (5.2%). 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 Mit most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Mit in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.9% (259 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 Mit in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mit a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mit 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 Mit still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mit 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 Mit 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 Mit?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.