Mitali
A feminine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "friendly" or "friendly nature".
Name Census estimates that about 115 living Americans carry the first name Mitali. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mitali today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mitali births was 2002 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mitali. 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 Mitali with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
115
~ 1 in 2,980,473 Americans
Peak year
2002
16 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2011 SSA rank
#16,159
Tracked since 1988
Census
Mitali in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 642 people with the first name Mitali, which placed it at #17,263 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
#17,263
National first-name rank
People counted
642
642 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
92.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mitali
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mitali is Asian/Pacific Islander at 92.8%. The next largest groups are White (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.6%). 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 Mitali 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 Mitali at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander92.8% · 596
- White2.8% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 10
- Two or more races1.6% · 10
- Black or African American1.2% · 8
Popularity
Mitali: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mitali from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 74 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
Mitali 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 Mitali during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mitalis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mitali
The name Mitali has its origins in the Sanskrit language, which is one of the oldest languages in the world, dating back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "mitra," which means "friend" or "ally." The name is believed to have been in use in ancient India, where Sanskrit was the primary language of the Hindu scriptures and philosophical texts.
In Hindu mythology, Mitra is the name of a solar deity who is associated with friendship, contracts, and oaths. The name Mitali is a feminine form of Mitra, suggesting a connection to this ancient deity and the concept of friendship and loyalty.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mitali can be found in the Mahabharata, a Sanskrit epic that dates back to the 8th or 9th century BCE. In this ancient text, there is a character named Mitali who is mentioned as a companion of the goddess Parvati.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Mitali. One such person was Mitali Mukherjee (1914-2008), an Indian classical dancer and choreographer who was known for her contributions to the revival of the Manipuri dance form. She was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honors, in 1975.
Another notable Mitali was Mitali Mukherjee (1951-2022), an Indian writer and journalist who received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2018 for her novel "Chowringhee." She was also a recipient of the Bangla Academy Award, one of the highest literary honors in Bangladesh.
In the field of science, Mitali Mukherjee (born 1968) is a renowned Indian biochemist and structural biologist who has made significant contributions to the understanding of protein structures and their role in disease. She is currently a professor at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.
Mitali Deori (born 1984) is an Indian classical dancer and choreographer who specializes in the Sattriya dance form. She has received numerous awards and accolades for her performances, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, one of the highest honors in the performing arts in India.
Mitali Ghosh (born 1976) is an Indian classical vocalist who has performed and recorded extensively in the Hindustani classical music tradition. She has received several prestigious awards, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Padma Shri, for her contributions to music.
People
Mitali + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mitali 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
Mitali: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mitali?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 115 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mitali 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 2,980,473 US residents.
Is Mitali a common name?
We classify Mitali as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 117 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mitali most popular?
The single biggest year for Mitali was 2002, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mitali 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 Mitali in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 642 people with the name Mitali, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,263 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 Mitali 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 Mitali?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mitali appears almost entirely female. Of the 640 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Mitali?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mitali is Asian/Pacific Islander at 92.8%. The next largest groups are White (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.6%). 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 Mitali most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Mitali in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.8% (596 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 Mitali in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mitali a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mitali 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 Mitali still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mitali 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 Mitali 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 named Mitali?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.