Name Awesome

Mikel

#1,930 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Who is like God?

Mikel has been given to 12,554 babies in the U.S. since 1882. In 2025 it ranked #1,930 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2004, with 201 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 92% boys, 8% girls all-time.

Babies named Mikel, 2025

1 in 40,900

Mikel over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Mikel over time

In 2025, Mikel went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

18822025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Mikel: meaning, origin, and history

Who is like God?

Basque form of Michael

About Mikel

Mikel is the Basque form of Michael, ultimately from a Hebrew name meaning “Who is like God?” It has two syllables and a clear final l. Football figures Mikel Arteta and Mikel Oyarzabal have made it especially familiar internationally, while singer Mikel Laboa gives it an important place in Basque musical culture.

Meaning and related forms

The Hebrew name Mikael is a rhetorical question referring to God. Through Greek, Latin, and later languages it produced a large international family that includes Michael, Miguel, Miquel, and Mikel.

Basque Mikel is pronounced approximately MEE-kel, with stress on the first syllable. It is a complete form of the name rather than a nickname that needs to be expanded into English Michael.

Spanish Miguel and Catalan Miquel are related language forms, with their own sounds and spellings. Mikela is a feminine form in the Basque family. The short written length of Mikel preserves the older name's basic consonants while giving it a distinct regional shape.

Mikel Arteta

Mikel Arteta became Arsenal's head coach in December 2019, returning to a club where he had previously played. The appointment placed his given name in regular international coverage of English football.

His first trophy as Arsenal's manager came with the 2020 FA Cup. That achievement connected his new coaching career with the club's long history in the competition.

The name Mikel is therefore familiar to many English-speaking viewers through a Basque form used without alteration in a British sporting setting. It remains distinct from the English Michael even when the two appear in the same language of reporting.

Mikel Oyarzabal

Mikel Oyarzabal scored Spain's winning goal in the final of UEFA Euro 2024. His finish four minutes from the end secured a 2–1 victory over England.

The result gave Spain a fourth European Championship title. Oyarzabal's decisive contribution made his full name especially prominent in accounts of the tournament's final.

Arteta and Oyarzabal are separate bearers associated with different roles: one as a manager and the other as a player scoring in a major international final.

Mikel Laboa

Mikel Laboa, who lived from 1934 to 2008, was a major Basque singer whose work combined traditional material, poetry, and experimentation.

His 1974 album Bat-Hiru became an important part of modern Basque musical history. His catalogue included songs familiar to a wide public as well as more experimental vocal work.

Laboa gives Mikel a cultural association beyond football, connecting the name with the language and artistic life in which it developed as a regional form.

American popularity

Mikel's largest annual boys' total in the United States SSA series was 201 in 2004, when it ranked #871. In 2025, 81 boys received the spelling, placing it at #1,930. Michael, Miguel, and Miquel are counted separately.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Wiktionary and Wikipedia material is adapted with attribution under CC BY-SA 4.0 where applicable. American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling; name-sex-year totals below five are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How popular is Mikel?

In 2025, Mikel ranked #1,930 among boys in the United States, with 81 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1882; its largest annual count was 201 in 2004. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.

How common is Mikel?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 40,900
81 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 21,100
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,930
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
28,370 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Mikel sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5001%

Put another way: gather 28,370 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Mikel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Mikels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Mikel was born before 1989 — so the typical Mikel is around 36 today.

Median birth year
1989
About 36 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
15.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
32.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
10,993
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 15.6% of all recorded uses (1,805).

Is Mikel rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−141
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−483
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−701
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.54×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
40.3%
Peak was 2004 (201)
Years since peak
21
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
6.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#512
1953

Spellings of Mikel

Mikel is not the most common spelling — Mike is, with 29.9% against Mikel's 1.7%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Mikel is used — boys

Across 2016–2025, Mikel was most concentrated in District of Columbia — about 1 in 5,882 boys, against 1 in 15,791 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in 100,000).

117 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1District of Columbia1 in 5,882
  2. 2Florida1 in 9,091
  3. 3Georgia1 in 10,000
  4. 4Missouri1 in 11,111
  5. 5New York1 in 11,111
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 12,500
  7. 7Texas1 in 12,500
  8. 8California1 in 14,286

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Where Mikel is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Mikel was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 1,805,587 across all states with data. It was least common in Oklahoma (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2New York1 in —
  3. 3Oklahoma1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Mikel has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Mikel around the world

Where Mikel ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1999–2025
    #2,269
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2008–2008
    #638
    in 2008
  • France
    1938–2025
    #2,253
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,817
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1962–2010
    #754
    in 2010

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Mikel

People whose public names include Mikel, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Mikel in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Mikel. Linked forms have their own page here.

MickelMiguelMikkelMiquelMichaelMihkelMikkeli

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Mikel by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,930
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 483
Best rank ever
#512
1953
Peak year
2004
201 that year
First recorded
1882
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
11,559
Count in 2025
81

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,272
1982
Peak year
1982
44 that year
First recorded
1936
Last recorded
2018
All-time count
995
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Mikel

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

MikkelMikahMikalMikaelMikeyMikealMykelMikhailMikkoMikaiMikellMikaMarkelMikailMikloMikoMikeMickelMikhaelMakelMikaleMikingJakelMikaeel

Names with a curve like Mikel

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Mikel, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

KentonElvisLarsBernardoJacquesAntonyRoelRamiroGinoFedericoRaymundoReynaldo

Sibling names for Mikel

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Mikel

Top names of 2004, Mikel's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1953Boys' names starting with MBasque Boy NamesMichael Variations & Nicknames