Michiel
Masculine · “who is like God?”
Michiel is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,040 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Michiel is the Dutch form of Michael, and the man who carried it did more damage to the Royal Navy than anybody before or since. In 1667 he sailed a Dutch fleet up the Medway, burned the ships at anchor and towed the English flagship home as a prize, where its stern carving is still on display in Amsterdam.
How old is the name Michiel?
Michiel first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Michiel alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 800 people named Michiel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Michiel most popular?
Michiel peaked in 1951, reaching #1171 nationally. See the whole 1951 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a Hebrew question used as an archangel's name to Michiel
The story of Michiel
Michiel de Ruyter had been to sea since he was eleven and rose to command the Dutch fleet at a point when the Dutch republic was fighting the English, the French and occasionally both at once. The raid on the Medway is the most humiliating single episode in English naval history: the chain across the river was broken, ships were burned at their moorings within sound of London, and the government fell shortly afterwards. He was famous among his own sailors for eating with them and for sweeping his own cabin, and he is one of very few admirals of any nation whose name is still a household word three centuries later.
Meaning
who is like God?
The Hebrew name is a rhetorical question. The Dutch spelling writes the long e sound with the letters ie, which is the standard Dutch convention and completely unlike the English one — an English reader sees two vowels and expects two syllables, where a Dutch reader sees one sound. That single difference is why the name looks strange in an American record and entirely ordinary in Rotterdam.
How the name formed
- a Hebrew question used as an archangel's name
- Dutch writes the long vowel with the letters ie
- an admiral makes the name famous in the 1660s
- carried to America with Dutch and Flemish migration
- used in the record from the 1910s
Related forms: Michiel · Michael · Michael
Pronouncing Michiel
mee-KHEEL
Two syllables with the stress at the back in Dutch, and a ch made in the back of the throat that English does not have. American readers say MY-kul or mih-SHEEL, neither of which is the Dutch name.
Nicknames for Michiel
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 195639 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1171reached in 1951
- Change vs 2005
- +33.3%8 in 2006, from 6
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.
Michiel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Michiel in Dutch — same name
- Michael in English — same name
- Michael in German — same name
Michiels among us
people named Michiel 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
Michiel 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
- It marks a Dutch family history clearly in a single letter pair.
- Mike is available as an English-facing short form.
- The name behind it is one of the most established in the world.
- The Dutch pronunciation is not available to most English speakers.
- Michael and Michelle will both be written instead, regularly.
- It is recorded for both sexes in America, which the Dutch original is not.
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Michiel
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Michiels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Michiel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Michiel in 2025?
- Michiel is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Michiel with classmates?
- Michiel 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 Michiel? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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