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Michael vs Mickenzie

American parents have registered 4,448,633 Michaels since 1880, against 684 Mickenzies. Michael is still ahead, with 8,107 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Michael against Mickenzie, 1880 to 2025 0 25k 50k 75k 100k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Michael Mickenzie

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Michael has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2002, when Michael had 28,353 and Mickenzie had 34.

Side by side

  Michael Mickenzie
Total US births 4,448,633684
Most in one year 93,03644
Babies in 2025 8,107under 5
Estimated living today 3.6 million670
Median age today 5025
Peak year 19571997
Best rank 1st boys3,036th girls
Rank in 2025 21stunranked
First recorded 18801983
Girls / boys 21,880 / 4,426,753640 / 44

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Michaels alive today are over 50; half the Mickenzies are over 25. That is 25 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Michael and Mickenzie.