Michael
Feminine · “Hebrew mi kha el”
Michael is given to boys far more often — 4,426,753 boys against 21,880 girls since 1880. See Michael as a boy name
Michael Learned won the Emmy for lead actress in a drama series in 1973, 1974 and 1976, playing Olivia Walton. Viewers reading her name in the credits saw a woman called Michael every week for nine years. The female Michael peaks in 1975, in the middle of that run, and it is one of the cleanest name effects in the American record.
How old is the name Michael?
Michael first appears in US birth records in 1897 — 128 years ago. The typical Michael alive today was born around 1974, making them about 51 years old. About 19,500 people named Michael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Michael most popular?
Michael peaked in 1975, reaching #373 nationally. Today it ranks #7885, 7,512 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Michael appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Mikhael to Michael
The story of Michael
Names cross from men to women far more often than the other way, and once they cross they rarely come back. Ashley, Shannon, Aubrey, Leslie, Kelly, Whitney and Carol were all male first. What makes Michael unusual is that the crossing failed. In 1975, the year the female Michael was at its height, the male Michael was the number one boys' name in the United States and had been for most of a decade. A name that large cannot be captured. The female use survives as a real but minority pattern, sustained partly by the Michelle and Michaela families around it and partly by the visibility of individual women who carry it. That is the exception to the usual rule, and it is worth stating precisely: the one-way decay holds for names of ordinary size, and stops holding for the very largest names, which have too much mass to move.
Meaning
Hebrew mi kha el, who is like God?
Michael is a Hebrew rhetorical question: mi, who, kha, like, el, God. It is not a statement but a challenge, and in Jewish and Christian tradition it is the cry of the archangel who leads the heavenly host against Satan. The name is grammatically a complete sentence, which a number of Hebrew names are, and the answer it expects is nobody. The female use in the United States carries the same etymology; nothing about the name changes except who is given it.
How the name formed
- Mikhael
- Michael
Related forms: Mikhael · Michaela · Michele
Pronouncing Michael
MY-kul
Two syllables, stress on the first, identical to the male name. The ch is said as k, from the Greek chi that transliterated the Hebrew letter. Michele and Michelle, the French forms, are said mee-SHELL and are separate names in English.
Nicknames for Michael
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
- 1897
- Most girls named
- 1986590 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #373reached in 1975
- Change vs 2023
- −35.0%13 in 2025, from 20
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.
Michael in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mikhael in Hebrew — transliteration
- Michaela in English — related form
- Michele in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York.
Michaels among us
people named Michael are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 123,636 born in 2025 was named Michael
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Zelda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Michael's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Zelda climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Zelda's path sketches the road Michael is walking now.
Michael 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
Michael beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Michael in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, ancient and unusually forceful.
- It has a documented history of female use in the United States.
- Mickey and Micki are established short forms for women.
- It will be read as male on paper in every institutional setting.
- Forms, records and correspondence will need correcting throughout life.
- Michaela and Michelle carry the same root without the ambiguity.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Michael to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Michael
Feminine · #7885 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Michaels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 19,500 people named Michael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Michael in 2025?
- Michael ranks #7885 among US girl names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Michael?
- About 1 in every 123,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Michael — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Michael with classmates?
- Michael will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Michael
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ola#7885 · Loula#7885 · Consuelo#7885 · Santa#7885 · Florentina#7885 · Marty#7885 · Jaye#7885 · Dollie#7885
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Michael? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Michael and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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