A name feels unique when you have never met anyone else who has it. That says more about the people you know than about the name. To check how unique your name really is, compare it with everyone in the country: how many people alive in the US have it, and how that compares with every other name. This guide shows how to do that in a minute, with real results for five names.
Step 1: Look Up Your First Name
Type your first name in the search box on the home page. How Many of Mee covers 105,943 first names from Social Security records of babies born from 1880 to 2025, with an estimate of how many people with each name are alive today. Pick your name from the suggestions or press the button to open its page.
Step 2: Read the Four Numbers That Matter
At the top of the name page you will find:
- People alive: about how many people in the US have the name today.
- 1 in N: the US population divided by that estimate. The bigger N is, the rarer the name.
- Rank: where the name stands among all names, by people alive.
- Rarity tier: from Very Common (more than 1,000,000 people) to Very Rare (10,000 or fewer).
Here is what those numbers look like for five names, from common to very rare:
| Name | People alive | About 1 in | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emma | 570,127 | 599 | Common |
| Hazel | 108,692 | 3,144 | Uncommon |
| Santiago | 98,899 | 3,455 | Rare |
| Zelda | 9,481 | 36,049 | Very Rare |
| Lumena | 5 | 68,356,971 | Very Rare |
Lumena first appeared in 2025, given to just 5 babies, so it is about as rare as a name in the records can be. Most names are like it: 103,486 of the 105,943 names are Very Rare.
Step 3: Check the Trend
A name’s rarity today isn’t its rarity tomorrow. The page’s chart shows babies given the name in every year since 1880, its peak year and whether it is rising or falling. Santiago is still in the Rare tier, with about 98,899 people alive, but its peak year is 2025, the latest year in the records: the name is still growing.
Step 4: Add Up Your Spellings
The records count every spelling as a separate name, so a rare-looking spelling can belong to a common name. Seven spellings of Kaitlyn each have their own page:
| Spelling | People alive (estimate) |
|---|---|
| Kaitlyn | 164,569 |
| Katelyn | 132,197 |
| Caitlin | 110,100 |
| Kaitlin | 56,347 |
| Caitlyn | 51,867 |
| Katelynn | 30,284 |
| Kaitlynn | 16,210 |
Together that is about 561,574 people. A Kaitlynn with 16,210 namesakes shares the sound of the name with many more.
Step 5: Check Your Last Name
Your first name is only half the story. The Census Bureau counts every surname that appeared at least 100 times in the 2010 Census, and each of those surnames has a page here: type yours in the search box on the surnames page. If your surname isn’t on the list, fewer than 100 people had it. To combine the two into a rough full-name figure, use the full name estimate; the full name guide explains how rough it is.
What Counts as a Unique Name?
- Unique in the records: a name given to exactly 5 babies in one year and never again. 14,881 names fit that description.
- Too rare for the records: if your name has no page at all, fewer than 5 babies of one sex received it in every year since 1880. That is rarer than any name the site lists.
- Unique as a full name: when the rough full-name estimate comes out below 1, few people or no one else is likely to share your exact name.
The rarity guide explains the tiers in more detail.