Mikai
Masculine
Mikai is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 762 boys against 20 girls since 1880.
Mikai joins Mi- to the -kai ending, and both stand near real things — Micah's question and the Hawaiian word for the sea.
How old is the name Mikai?
Mikai first appears in US birth records in 1997 — 28 years ago. The typical Mikai alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 800 people named Mikai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mikai most popular?
Mikai peaked in 2005, reaching #2081 nationally. Today it ranks #4539, 2,458 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Mikai
Ours, offered as ours. Kai has become one of the most attachable syllables in American naming precisely because it means good things in several unrelated languages — the sea in Hawaiian, an Arthurian knight in Welsh, several senses in Japanese — so a family can attach it and mean whichever they like. Mikai, Makai, Kaiden, Kailen and Kaia all use it. The syllable is doing the work of a whole name.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source is established for the compound. Hebrew Mikha is a rhetorical question, who is like the Lord. Hawaiian kai is the sea and makai means toward it. The Mi- and -kai pieces of American naming are the likelier source.
Pronouncing Mikai
mih-KY
Two syllables with the stress on the second. Some families say MY-ky.
Nicknames for Mikai
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
- 1997
- Most boys named
- 200559 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2081reached in 2005
- Change vs 2024
- +69.2%22 in 2025, from 13
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.
Mikai in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Makai in Hawaiian — related form
- Mikha in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Pennsylvania, New York.
Mikais among us
people named Mikai are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 77,640 born in 2025 was named Mikai
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mikai
- #4539
- Mikai on the 2025 chart
- #892
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mikai went to 22 boys in 2025, but Mykai and Mikhai are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 36, which makes it the 892nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 3,647 places above the chart.
- Mikai22
- Mykai8
- Mikhai6
About 1 boy in 47,447 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 77,640 for Mikai 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 Rondel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mikai's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rondel climbed just as high around 1940, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rondel's path sketches the road Mikai is walking now.
Mikai 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
Mikai beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mikai in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Kai is a complete short form with real lives in several languages.
- Five letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- Read correctly on sight by most English speakers.
- The stress is unsettled between the two syllables.
- Mikai, Makai, Mikael and Micah are all close and get confused.
- There is no documented meaning for the compound.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Mikai
Masculine · #4539 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mikais are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Mikai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mikai?
- Mikai is the most-used spelling in US records — 22 of the 36 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Mykai and Mikhai.
- How popular is the name Mikai in 2025?
- Mikai ranks #4539 among US boy names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mikai?
- About 1 in every 77,640 US boys born in 2025 was named Mikai — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mikai with classmates?
- Mikai will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mikai
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nels#4539 · Gabe#4539 · Michel#4539 · Elroy#4539 · Orlin#4539 · Pearce#4539 · Josemaria#4539 · Napoleon#4539
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mikai? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mikai and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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