Mecca
Feminine
Mecca is given to both — 2,288 girls and 830 boys since 1880. See Mecca as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Mecca is the city Muslims turn toward five times a day, and the English word for a place people flock to comes directly from it. What the Arabic name Makkah originally meant is not known: it is older than the classical language and appears in the Qur'an without explanation.
How old is the name Mecca?
Mecca first appears in US birth records in 1952 — 73 years ago. The typical Mecca alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 2,200 people named Mecca are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mecca most popular?
Mecca peaked in 1995, reaching #1651 nationally. Today it ranks #5099, 3,448 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Makkah to Mecca
The story of Mecca
Mecca was a caravan town with a sanctuary at its center long before Islam, and the pilgrimage that focuses on it now draws more people to one place at one time than any other event on earth. English took the name as a common noun for anything that attracts a crowd, which is how it entered the general vocabulary. As a given name it appears in American records from the nineteen-eighties, mostly in Black American families, and it is used for girls far more than for boys.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Not established. Makkah appears in the Qur'an and in pre-Islamic sources, and no Arabic etymology has been agreed; a South Arabian word for a sanctuary has been proposed. English acquired the common noun in the nineteenth century, meaning a place that draws people irresistibly.
How the name formed
- Makkah
- Mecca
Related forms: مكة
Pronouncing Mecca
MEK-uh
Two syllables, stress in front. Arabic says MAK-kah with a fuller first vowel and a held double k.
Nicknames for Mecca
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
- 1952
- Most girls named
- 199589 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1651reached in 1995
- Change vs 2024
- −46.8%25 in 2025, from 47
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.
Mecca in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- مكة in Arabic — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, Georgia, California.
Meccas among us
people named Mecca are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 64,291 born in 2025 was named Mecca
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mecca
- #5099
- Mecca on the 2025 chart
- #918
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mecca went to 25 girls in 2025, but Meekah and Meeka are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 42, which makes it the 918th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,181 places above the chart.
- Mecca25
- Meekah9
- Meeka8
About 1 girl in 38,268 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 64,291 for Mecca itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Donnetta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mecca's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Donnetta climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Donnetta's path sketches the road Mecca is walking now.
Mecca 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
Where Mecca is headed
Mecca should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Mecca beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mecca in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It names a real place known to nearly everyone on earth.
- Two syllables and five letters make it fast to write and easy to say.
- The English common noun is a warm one: a place people are drawn to.
- It is a sacred city, and giving it as a name reads differently to Muslims than to others.
- Its meaning is genuinely unknown, so a child looking it up will find guesses.
- The English word is in everyday use, so the name appears in unrelated sentences.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Mecca to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Mecca
Feminine · #5099 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Meccas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,200 people named Mecca are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mecca?
- Mecca is the most-used spelling in US records — 25 of the 42 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Meekah and Meeka.
- How popular is the name Mecca in 2025?
- Mecca ranks #5099 among US girl names in 2025, with 25 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mecca?
- About 1 in every 64,291 US girls born in 2025 was named Mecca — 25 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mecca with classmates?
- Mecca will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mecca
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Janette#5099 · Loraine#5099 · Delfina#5099 · Hali#5099 · Zoi#5099 · Afia#5099 · Binta#5099 · Emelie#5099
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mecca? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mecca and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
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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