Mital
An Indian feminine name derived from Sanskrit meaning "friend".
Name Census estimates that about 20 living Americans carry the first name Mital. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Mital today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mital births was 1988 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mital. 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 Mital. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
20
~ 1 in 17,137,717 Americans
Peak year
1988
6 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1981 SSA rank
#6,942
Tracked since 1981
Census
Mital in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 463 people with the first name Mital, which placed it at #21,790 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
#21,790
National first-name rank
People counted
463
463 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
95.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mital
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mital is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.7%. The next largest groups are White (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.1%). 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 Mital 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 Mital at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander95.7% · 443
- White2.8% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 5
- Two or more races0.4% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Mital
Mital is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 21 total registrations, 5 (23.8%) were male and 16 (76.2%) were female.
Mital as a male name
- Ranked #6,942 in 1981
- 5 male births in 1981
- Peak: 1981 (5 births)
Mital as a female name
- Ranked #14,743 in 1992
- 5 female births in 1992
- Peak: 1988 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mital leans strongly female. 374 people counted with this name were female (81.5%), compared with 85 male bearers (18.5%).
Popularity
Mital: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mital from the 1980s through to the 1990s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 16 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Mital remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Mital 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 Mital 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 Mital
The name Mital has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language from the Indian subcontinent. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "Mitra," meaning friend or ally. It is believed to have been used as a name for individuals from around the 5th century BCE.
In ancient Hindu scriptures, such as the Vedas and the Upanishads, the word "Mitra" is often associated with the Vedic deity Mitra, who is the personification of friendship, contract, and mutual understanding. This association suggests that the name Mital may have been given to individuals who were considered trustworthy and reliable.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Mital can be found in the Puranas, which are ancient Hindu texts that recount the histories of various deities and dynasties. In the Bhagavata Purana, there is a reference to a sage named Mital who was renowned for his wisdom and spiritual knowledge.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Mital. One of the most famous was Mital Pande (1908-1994), an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the President of the Indian National Congress from 1939 to 1940. Another notable figure was Mital Basu (1915-1991), a renowned Bengali writer and playwright who was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1976 for his contributions to literature.
Other notable individuals with the name Mital include Mital Shetty (born 1976), an Indian actress and model; Mital Sanghvi (born 1982), an Indian businessman and entrepreneur; and Mital Patel (born 1979), an Indian-American author and speaker.
The name Mital has remained popular in various parts of the Indian subcontinent, particularly in regions where Sanskrit and its derivatives were widely spoken. While it may not be as commonly used today as it once was, the name continues to carry a sense of friendship, trust, and reliability, reflecting its historical roots and cultural significance.
People
Mital + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mital 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
Mital: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mital?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mital 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 17,137,717 US residents.
Is Mital a common name?
We classify Mital as "Very Rare". It ranks above 39.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mital most popular?
The single biggest year for Mital was 1988, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mital is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mital in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 463 people with the name Mital, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,790 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 Mital 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 Mital?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mital leans strongly female. 374 people counted with this name were female (81.5%), compared with 85 male bearers (18.5%). 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 Mital?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mital is Asian/Pacific Islander at 95.7%. The next largest groups are White (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.1%). 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 Mital most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Mital in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.7% (443 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 Mital in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mital a female name?
Yes, 76.2% of people registered as Mital 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 Mital still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mital 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 Mital 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 Americans are named Mital?
See how many people have the name Mital on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.