Miguel
Feminine · “who is like God?”
Miguel is given to boys far more often — 190,566 boys against 996 girls since 1880. See Miguel as a boy name
The man who wrote Don Quixote lost the use of his left hand at Lepanto, was captured by corsairs on the way home, and spent five years as a slave in Algiers attempting to escape four times. He was ransomed at thirty-three and published the novel in his late fifties, after a career of almost unbroken failure.
How old is the name Miguel?
Miguel first appears in US birth records in 1927 — 98 years ago. The typical Miguel alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 1,000 people named Miguel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Miguel most popular?
Miguel peaked in 1984, reaching #2625 nationally. See the whole 1984 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a Hebrew question used as an archangel's name to Miguel
The story of Miguel
He had gone to Italy as a young man, enlisted, and fought at Lepanto with a fever, refusing to stay below decks. Two gunshots took his chest and his left hand; he was proud of it for the rest of his life and referred to it in prefaces. The captivity was worse: four escape attempts, each of which should have got him killed, and a ransom his family beggared itself to raise. He came home to a Spain with no use for him, worked as a tax collector, was imprisoned for irregular accounts, and started writing.
Meaning
who is like God?
The Hebrew name is a rhetorical question, and Spanish spells it with a u after the g for a reason English readers do not need: in Spanish, g before e or i is a throat sound, so the u is there to keep it hard. The same rule gives guerra and guitarra. Without it the name would be pronounced with an h at the front of the second syllable.
How the name formed
- a Hebrew question used as an archangel's name
- Spanish adds a u to keep the g hard
- Miguel becomes one of the commonest Spanish men's names
- a soldier and slave writes the first modern novel
- steady American use with a peak at the millennium
Related forms: Miguel · Michel · Michele
Pronouncing Miguel
mee-GEL
Two syllables with the stress at the back and a hard g. English speakers regularly produce mi-GWEL, sounding the u, which is precisely what the u is there to prevent.
Nicknames for Miguel
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
- 1927
- Most girls named
- 199037 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2625reached in 1984
- Change vs 2019
- 0.0%5 in 2023, from 5
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.
Miguel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Miguel in Portuguese — same name
- Michel in French — same name
- Michele in Italian — same name
Miguels among us
people named Miguel 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
Miguel 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 is one of the most established names in the Spanish-speaking world.
- It is short, strong and read correctly by anybody who knows the rule about gu.
- The meaning is ancient, clear and easy to explain.
- English speakers will sound the u, and correcting it is a lifetime's work.
- Michael and Miguel are the same name, which surprises people on both sides.
- It is common enough in America that he may share it in a classroom.
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Miguel
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Miguels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Miguel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Miguel in 2025?
- Miguel is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Miguel with classmates?
- Miguel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Miguel? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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