Mikala
Feminine · “who is like God?”
Mikala is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 4,008 girls against 10 boys since 1880.
Mikala settles an argument that Michaela leaves open. The ch in the middle of Michaela is said three different ways in three languages, and the k simply ends the discussion. It also happens to be a real name in two places that have nothing to do with each other.
How old is the name Mikala?
Mikala first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Mikala alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 3,900 people named Mikala are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mikala most popular?
Mikala peaked in 1995, reaching #659 nationally. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Michael to Mikala
The story of Mikala
The ch in Michaela is a Greek chi, and no two languages agree about it. English says a plain k. German says a rasping kh, so that the name has three syllables and a scrape in the middle. French softens it to sh. A spelling with a k removes all of that at the cost of looking invented, which is why American families reached for it in the closing decades of the twentieth century. Two other places got to Mikala first and independently: Denmark, where it is a standing feminine of Mikael, and Hawaii, whose alphabet has no c and rebuilds borrowed names with the letters it does have. Neither is where the American spelling came from, but both make it a real name rather than only a respelling.
Meaning
who is like God?
The name behind it is a question rather than a statement, and the question is rhetorical. The feminine forms carry it unchanged; the spelling changes nothing about the sense.
How the name formed
- Michael
- Michaela
- Mikala
Related forms: Mikala · Mikala · Michaela · Micaela · Michaela
Pronouncing Mikala
mih-KAH-luh
Three syllables with the weight in the middle. Some American families say mih-KAY-luh, matching Mikayla, and both are in ordinary use.
Nicknames for Mikala
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
- 1967
- Most girls named
- 1995324 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #659reached in 1995
- Change vs 2021
- −28.6%5 in 2023, from 7
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.
Mikala in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mikala in Danish — same name
- Mikala in Hawaiian — transliteration
- Michaela in Latin — related form
- Micaela in Italian — spelling variant
- Michaela in Czech — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Mikalas among us
people named Mikala are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Mikala sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The k removes an ambiguity that every ch spelling of this name carries.
- It is a genuine standing name in Danish and in Hawaiian, so it is not only an American respelling.
- Mika and Kala are ready short forms, each a real name somewhere else.
- Michaela, Mikayla, Makayla, Micaela and Mikala are five spellings of nearly one sound, and all five will be offered.
- The middle vowel is genuinely unsettled between AH and AY, so the name will be said two ways.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well as girls in the United States.
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What they receive
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Mikala
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Mikalas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,900 people named Mikala are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mikala in 2025?
- Mikala is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Mikala with classmates?
- Mikala will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mikala? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mikala and another name?
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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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