Michell
Masculine · “who is like God?”
Michell is given to both — 588 boys and 6,995 girls since 1880. See Michell as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Michaelmas was one of the four days a year when English rents came due, courts opened and terms began — the twenty-ninth of September, at the end of the harvest. Oxford and Cambridge still call the autumn term Michaelmas, and the daisy that flowers around it is still a Michaelmas daisy.
How old is the name Michell?
Michell first appears in US birth records in 1926 — 99 years ago. The typical Michell alive today was born around 1973, making them about 52 years old. About 500 people named Michell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Michell most popular?
Michell peaked in 1962, reaching #1896 nationally. See the whole 1962 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Mikha'el to Michell
The story of Michell
The quarter days organized the English year: Lady Day in March, Midsummer in June, Michaelmas in September and Christmas in December. Rents were paid, servants hired, magistrates sat and school terms began on them, and Michaelmas was the one that mattered most in the countryside because it fell after the harvest was in. Two of the best-known religious sites in the English-speaking world carry the same name and the same shape: Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy and St Michael's Mount in Cornwall are both tidal islands with a monastery on top, both dedicated to the archangel, and the Cornish one was given to the Norman abbey by Edward the Confessor.
Meaning
who is like God?
Hebrew Mikha'el, made of mi, who, kha, like, and el, God — a rhetorical question. Michelle is the French feminine and Michell is an American spelling with the final e dropped, which changes nothing about how it is said.
How the name formed
- Mikha'el
- Michel
- Michelle
- Michell
Related forms: Michelle · Micaela · Michaela
Pronouncing Michell
mih-SHELL
Two syllables, stress on the second, with the ch as sh — which is French. Michelle and Michell are identical in speech; the final e is silent in English and marks nothing.
Nicknames for Michell
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
- 1926
- Most boys named
- 197020 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1896reached in 1962
- Change vs 2008
- +28.6%9 in 2010, from 7
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.
Michell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Michelle in French — same name
- Micaela in Spanish — same name
- Michaela in German — same name
Michells among us
people named Michell are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Michell sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- A settled Hebrew meaning that is a complete sentence.
- One of the largest name families in the world stands behind it.
- Three short forms, two of which serve either child.
- Michelle is far commoner and the missing e will be restored by nearly everyone.
- It is strongly represented among older generations and places the name in the later twentieth century.
- The few boys given this spelling will be read as girls on paper.
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What they receive
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Michell
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Michells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Michell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Michell in 2025?
- Michell is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Michell with classmates?
- Michell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Michael#21 · Matthew#32 · Mark#244 · Mason#39 · Martin#335 · Marvin#699 · Melvin#958 · Marcus#258
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Michell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Michell and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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