Mikkel
Masculine · “Who is like God?”
Mikkel is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 882 boys against 24 girls since 1880.
Mikkel is Michael in Danish and Norwegian, and Michael is a question rather than a statement: mi-ka-el asks who is like God, and the expected answer is nobody. It is the archangel's name and one of the oldest challenges in the Hebrew Bible.
How old is the name Mikkel?
Mikkel first appears in US birth records in 1947 — 78 years ago. The typical Mikkel alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 900 people named Mikkel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mikkel most popular?
Mikkel peaked in 1984, reaching #2824 nationally. Today it ranks #5399, 2,575 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.
Where it comes from
From Mîḵāʾēl to Mikkel
The story of Mikkel
Michael is the archangel who leads the heavenly armies in Daniel and Revelation, and his cult was enormous across medieval Europe — Mont-Saint-Michel and St Michael's Mount are both his. Scandinavia took the name as Mikkel and Mikael, and Danish gave the fox in its animal fables the name Mikkel Ræv, which is why the word carries a faint suggestion of cleverness in Danish. Norwegian and Danish immigrants brought the spelling to America, and its modest peak in the 1980s belongs to families of Scandinavian descent rather than to a new arrival.
Meaning
Who is like God?
From Hebrew Mîḵāʾēl, a rhetorical question — mî, who, kə, like, and ʾēl, God — whose implied answer is no one. The reading is settled. Danish and Norwegian Mikkel doubles the k and drops the a of the Latin Michael, which is the ordinary Scandinavian treatment of the name.
How the name formed
- Mîḵāʾēl
- Michael
- Mikkel
Related forms: Mikkel · Mikkel · Mikael · Mikko · Michael · מִיכָאֵל
Pronouncing Mikkel
MIK-ul
Two syllables, stress on the first. Danish reduces the final vowel almost to nothing and softens the l; the American saying gives both more weight.
Nicknames for Mikkel
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
- 1947
- Most boys named
- 200429 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2824reached in 1984
- Change vs 2024
- +30.8%17 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.
Mikkel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mikkel in Danish — same name
- Mikkel in Norwegian — same name
- Mikael in Swedish — related form
- Mikko in Finnish — related form
- Michael in German — related form
- מִיכָאֵל in Hebrew — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Mikkels among us
people named Mikkel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 100,475 born in 2025 was named Mikkel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mikkel
- #5399
- Mikkel on the 2025 chart
- #733
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mikkel went to 17 boys in 2025, but Mikel, Mykel and Mykell and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 196, which makes it the 733rd most-given boys’ name of the year — 4,666 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 8,715 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 100,475 for Mikkel 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 Darvis test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mikkel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darvis climbed just as high around 1957, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darvis's path sketches the road Mikkel is walking now.
Mikkel 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
Mikkel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mikkel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and among the most striking any name carries.
- Mike is available instantly in English-speaking settings.
- It is spelled the same in Danish and Norwegian.
- Michael is overwhelmingly commoner and will be assumed.
- Mikkel, Mikael, Michal and Mihkel are four Scandinavian and Baltic spellings.
- It is unfamiliar in America and will be spelled out.
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What they receive
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Mikkel
Masculine · #5399 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mikkels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Mikkel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mikkel?
- Mikkel is one of 6 recorded spellings. Mikel is the more common one — 81 births in 2025 against 17 for Mikkel.
- How popular is the name Mikkel in 2025?
- Mikkel ranks #5399 among US boy names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mikkel?
- About 1 in every 100,475 US boys born in 2025 was named Mikkel — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mikkel with classmates?
- Mikkel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mikkel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Frazier#5399 · Franz#5399 · Demetrio#5399 · Rolan#5399 · Rayvon#5399 · Riddick#5399 · Laramie#5399 · Soloman#5399
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mikkel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mikkel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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