Makaela
Feminine · “Hebrew "who is like God?”
Michaela has more than twenty American spellings and one German one. That difference is not about carelessness — Germany, France, Iceland and Denmark all have official registries that vet given names, and the United States has none at all.
How old is the name Makaela?
Makaela first appears in US birth records in 1980 — 45 years ago. The typical Makaela alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 2,700 people named Makaela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Makaela most popular?
Makaela peaked in 1998, reaching #1254 nationally. Today it ranks #7885, 6,631 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From mi-ka-el to Makaela
The story of Makaela
Several European countries regulate given names. Denmark maintains an approved list and requires official permission for anything outside it. Iceland's naming committee tests names against Icelandic grammar and the alphabet. Germany's registrars can refuse a name that does not clearly indicate sex or that might harm the child, and France did until 1993. The United States has no equivalent: registration is a state matter and restrictions concern characters and length rather than the name itself. The consequence is visible in the data — American spelling variation is far larger than anywhere with an approval system, and a name like Michaela fragments into dozens of forms. Makaela peaks in 1998.
Meaning
Hebrew "who is like God?"
From mi-ka-el, a question expecting the answer nobody, with a Latin feminine ending. Makaela is one of a very large set of American spellings — Michaela, Mikayla, Makayla, Mikaela, McKayla, Micaela and others — that all represent the same name. German uses Michaela and essentially nothing else.
How the name formed
- mi-ka-el
- Michaela
- Makaela
Related forms: Michaela · Makayla · Michaela
Pronouncing Makaela
muh-KAY-luh
Three syllables, stress on the second. German Michaela is mee-kha-EH-lah with four syllables and a back fricative, and is a different name in sound.
Nicknames for Makaela
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1980
- Most girls named
- 1998145 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1254reached in 1998
- Change vs 2024
- −23.5%13 in 2025, from 17
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Makaela in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Michaela in English — spelling variant
- Makayla in English — spelling variant
- Michaela in Czech — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Makaelas among us
people named Makaela are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 123,636 born in 2025 was named Makaela
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Lynnda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Makaela's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lynnda climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lynnda's path sketches the road Makaela is walking now.
Makaela sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Makaela beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Makaela in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and among the best documented of any name.
- Kaela and Mika are ready short forms.
- It is read correctly on sight by English speakers.
- Makayla and Mikayla are far more common and will be substituted.
- The number of competing spellings makes it hard to write from speech.
- The connection to Michael is invisible to most people.
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What they receive
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Makaela
Feminine · #7885 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Makaelas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,700 people named Makaela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Makaela in 2025?
- Makaela ranks #7885 among US girl names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Makaela?
- About 1 in every 123,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Makaela — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Makaela with classmates?
- Makaela will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Makaela
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ola#7885 · Loula#7885 · Consuelo#7885 · Santa#7885 · Florentina#7885 · Marty#7885 · Jaye#7885 · Dollie#7885
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Makaela? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Makaela and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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