Head to head · Girls' names
Meredith vs Michelle
#469 vs #465 in 2025
Michelle is a whisker ahead (#465 vs #469 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Michelle is stepping back from its peak, Meredith is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Meredith has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Michelle leads 4 measures of 6; Meredith leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1890s: Meredith #1426, Michelle — — Meredith higher
- 1900s: Meredith #1400, Michelle — — Meredith higher
- 1910s: Meredith #924, Michelle #4300 — Meredith higher
- 1920s: Meredith #770, Michelle #3030 — Meredith higher
- 1930s: Meredith #607, Michelle #1640 — Meredith higher
- 1940s: Meredith #443, Michelle #380 — Michelle higher
- 1950s: Meredith #539, Michelle #102 — Michelle higher
- 1960s: Meredith #541, Michelle #18 — Michelle higher
- 1970s: Meredith #178, Michelle #5 — Michelle higher
- 1980s: Meredith #149, Michelle #17 — Michelle higher
- 1990s: Meredith #232, Michelle #39 — Michelle higher
- 2000s: Meredith #362, Michelle #75 — Michelle higher
- 2010s: Meredith #586, Michelle #196 — Michelle higher
- 2020s: Meredith #529, Michelle #397 — Michelle higher
Michelle stood higher in 9 of 14 decades; Michelle has held the lead since the 1940s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Meredith | Michelle |
|---|---|---|
| 1890s | #1426 | — |
| 1900s | #1400 | — |
| 1910s | #924 | #4300 |
| 1920s | #770 | #3030 |
| 1930s | #607 | #1640 |
| 1940s | #443 | #380 |
| 1950s | #539 | #102 |
| 1960s | #541 | #18 |
| 1970s | #178 | #5 |
| 1980s | #149 | #17 |
| 1990s | #232 | #39 |
| 2000s | #362 | #75 |
| 2010s | #586 | #196 |
| 2020s | #529 | #397 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Meredith
Not established
The second element is generally read as iudd, a lord, which is well attested in Welsh names. The first is not agreed: proposals include a word for great or splendor, and none is demonstrated. Great lord is the usual gloss and it is a reconstruction of half a name. Meredith is the English spelling of Maredudd, and the surname form is Meredydd or Bedward in various renderings; the given name in English use descends from the surname.
Maredudd → Meredydd → Meredith
How it traveled
A men's name crosses to women by a fairly reliable route: it becomes a surname, the surname gets used as a first name for boys, it sounds soft enough to be given to a girl once, and once it is common for girls it stops being given to boys entirely. Meredith is a textbook case, and the crossing happened in America between the nineteen-twenties and the nineteen-fifties.
Michelle
who is like God?
The French feminine of Michel, and behind that the Hebrew name of the archangel. The question is rhetorical and the expected answer is nobody.
Michael → Michel → Michelle
How it traveled
What happened in between was a song. A Beatles track of the mid-sixties, half in French and half in English, was released on an album that sold in numbers nobody had seen before, won the songwriting award of its year, and was covered by everybody; the name reached its peak in America within three years of it.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Meredith
MAIR-uh-dith
MAIR-uh-dith, three syllables, stress at the front, the middle reduced. Welsh Maredudd puts the weight on the middle syllable and ends in a sound English does not have, so the two versions are audibly different names.
- Merry — The front softened, which lands on an English word and is used knowingly.
- Edie — Built from the middle and the end, and a standing name of its own.
- Mer — The front clipped, short and used among friends rather than on paper.
Michelle
mee-SHELL
Two syllables with the weight at the back. French says it the same way; American English sometimes shortens the first vowel to mih-SHELL.
- Shelly — Built from the back; a standing name of its own and the commonest everyday form.
- Mich — Cut from the front; used among friends rather than written.
- Micki — Built from the front; shared with Michaela and used for women and men both.
- Elle — The ending used alone; a standing French and English name.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Meredith if you want…
- a name on the way upup 116 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMeredith runs 3 syllables, Michelle 2
Choose Michelle if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsMichelle is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesMichelle is 2 syllables to Meredith's 3
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Meredith
Strengths
- It has a documented thousand-year history as a Welsh princely name.
- Merry, Mer and Edie are three short forms in three quite different registers.
- Three syllables with a firm front stress, which carries a short surname well.
To consider
- In Wales this is a man's name, and Welsh speakers will read it that way whatever an American form says.
- The meaning is only half recoverable, so any gloss offered is a reconstruction.
- It is strongly associated with the middle of the last century in America.
Michelle
Strengths
- It is spelled and said the same way in English, French and Dutch, which few names manage.
- It carries several established short forms with quite different characters.
- Everyone can spell it and say it on first hearing.
To consider
- It is heavily generation-marked and will place a person in time immediately.
- Michele with one l is the Italian man's name, and the spellings get crossed.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of boys, though it reads overwhelmingly as a girl's name.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Meredith and Michelle in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Meredith and Michelle?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Meredith and Michelle — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Meredith or Michelle — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Meredith or Michelle?
- Michelle, in 2025: Michelle ranked #465 with 661 babies; Meredith ranked #469 with 656 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Meredith or Michelle?
- Meredith. Over the last five years Meredith moved up 116 places; Michelle moved down 129 places.
- Which is the older name, Meredith or Michelle?
- Meredith entered the US charts in 1895; Michelle entered the US charts in 1915. On the American record, Meredith is the older name.
- How many people are named Meredith and Michelle?
- About 72,000 people named Meredith are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 769,000 people named Michelle are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Merediths or Michelles in the classroom?
- Meredith will almost certainly be the only one in school. Michelle will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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