NameRealm
Mecca

Mecca: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“Mecca, holy city”
Origin
Arabic
Say it
MEK-uh · 2 syllables
Used for
Both (75% girls, 25% boys since 1880)

From the name of the holy city in Saudi Arabia, Arabic Makkah. As a personal name, it is modern and place-name based.

Arabic namesAmerican namesNames meaning faithModern namesInternational names

How popular is Mecca?

202441.0 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Mecca in 2024136

2024 rank#1,818 boys

Peak year2023

Total US babies since 18803,022

Mecca is rising: use over the last five years is 5.5× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Mecca

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Alihigh, exalted · Arabic
  • Amiriprincely, of a commander · Arabic
  • IsaJesus · Arabic
  • Kharicharitable · Arabic
  • IssaJesus · Arabic
  • RumiRoman; from Anatolia · Arabic
  • Samielevated, sublime · Arabic
  • Imanfaith · Arabic

Mecca questions

What does the name Mecca mean?

Mecca means "Mecca, holy city". It comes from Arabic. From the name of the holy city in Saudi Arabia, Arabic Makkah. As a personal name, it is modern and place-name based.

Is Mecca a boy or girl name?

Mecca is used for both: about 75% of US babies named Mecca since 1880 were girls.

How popular is Mecca?

136 US babies were named Mecca in 2024. Its peak year was 2023.

How do you pronounce Mecca?

Mecca is usually pronounced MEK-uh.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.