Mika
Masculine · “who is like God?”
Mika is given to both — 1,362 boys and 6,752 girls since 1880. See Mika as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Mika is a name that three unrelated languages have arrived at: a Finnish short form of Mikael, a Japanese name, and a spelling of the Hebrew Micah. It is used for men and women depending on which one is meant.
How old is the name Mika?
Mika first appears in US birth records in 1960 — 65 years ago. The typical Mika alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 1,300 people named Mika are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mika most popular?
Mika peaked in 1974, reaching #2459 nationally. Today it ranks #3379, 920 places below that high. See the whole 1974 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Mikael to Mika
The story of Mika
Finland shortened Mikael to Mika in the twentieth century and it became one of the country's most-used men's names. Japan has its own Mika, unconnected. Hebrew Micah is a prophet's name three thousand years old. All three reached American records separately, which is why the same four letters are given to boys and girls in roughly equal numbers and mean something different in each family.
Meaningscholars disagree
who is like God?
Finnish Mika is a short form of Mikael, from the Hebrew rhetorical question also asked by Michael. Japanese Mika is a separate name, usually a women's one, whose meaning depends on the characters chosen. Hebrew Micah is a third line, and English Mika is often a respelling of it.
How the name formed
- Mikael
- Mika
Related forms: Mika · Micah · Misha
Pronouncing Mika
MEE-kah
Two syllables, first stressed, in Finnish and Japanese. American speakers often say MY-kah, following Micah.
Nicknames for Mika
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
- 1960
- Most boys named
- 201950 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2459reached in 1974
- Change vs 2024
- −22.7%34 in 2025, from 44
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.
Mika in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mika in Finnish — same name
- Micah in English — related form
- Misha in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Mikas among us
people named Mika are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 50,238 born in 2025 was named Mika
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mika
- #3379
- Mika on the 2025 chart
- #84
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mika went to 34 boys in 2025, but Micah, Mikah and Mykah and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 7 spellings went to 4,065, which makes it the 84th most-given boys’ name of the year — 3,295 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 420 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 50,238 for Mika 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 Arlow test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mika's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Arlow climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Arlow's path sketches the road Mika is walking now.
Mika 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 Mika is headed
Mika 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.
Mika beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mika in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two syllables, readable at sight in a great many languages.
- It has real standing in Finnish, Japanese and Hebrew traditions.
- A settled meaning through the Michael line, which is very well documented.
- The first vowel is genuinely unsettled between MEE and MY.
- It is used for boys and girls, so forms and teachers will sometimes guess wrong.
- Micah, Mica and Mika are all close and get confused.
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What they receive
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Mika
Masculine · #3379 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mikas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Mika are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mika?
- Mika is one of 6 recorded spellings. Micah is the more common one — 3,817 births in 2025 against 34 for Mika.
- How popular is the name Mika in 2025?
- Mika ranks #3379 among US boy names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mika?
- About 1 in every 50,238 US boys born in 2025 was named Mika — 34 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mika with classmates?
- Mika will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mika
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Art#3379 · Sampson#3379 · Kiernan#3379 · Benyamin#3379 · Quamir#3379 · Madhav#3379 · Tuff#3379 · Hubert#3379
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mika? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mika and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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