Humanverse

Mikel vs Mikell

American parents have registered 12,554 Mikels since 1880, against 2,067 Mikells. Mikel is still ahead, with 81 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Mikel against Mikell, 1880 to 2025 0 60 120 180 240 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Mikel Mikell

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 107 years in which either name was published, Mikel for 104 years and Mikell for 3 years. The lead changed hands 4 times.

Side by side

  Mikel Mikell
Total US births 12,5542,067
Most in one year 22451
Babies in 2025 819
Estimated living today 11,0001,900
Median age today 3430
Peak year 20042007
Best rank 871st boys2,868th boys
Rank in 2025 1,919th8,243rd
First recorded 18821934
Girls / boys 995 / 11,559534 / 1,533

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Mikels alive today are over 34; half the Mikells are over 30. That is 4 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Mikel and Mikell.