Miquel
Masculine · “who is like God?”
Miquel is given to both — 2,031 boys and 92 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
This is not a misspelling of the Spanish name. Miquel is the Catalan form, standard and correct in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearics, where several million people speak a language that is not a dialect of Spanish and never was. Miguel is Spanish; this is its neighbor.
How old is the name Miquel?
Miquel first appears in US birth records in 1926 — 99 years ago. The typical Miquel alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 1,900 people named Miquel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Miquel most popular?
Miquel peaked in 1986, reaching #1227 nationally. See the whole 1986 chart.
Where it comes from
From Mikha'el to Miquel
The story of Miquel
The difference between the two spellings is a rule rather than an accident. Catalan writes qu where Spanish writes gu in this position, because the two languages made different choices about how to represent the consonant when the Latin word came down to them — and the difference is entirely visual, since both are said with a hard k or g respectively and neither sounds the u. That single letter is one of the small reliable markers that tells a reader which of the two languages a word belongs to, and a name carrying it is making a statement about origin that most English speakers will read straight past.
Meaning
who is like God?
The Hebrew name is a rhetorical question with an implied answer of nobody. Every European form descends from it through Greek and Latin, and the sense is carried through all of them unchanged.
How the name formed
- Mikha'el
- Michael
- Miquel
Related forms: Miquel · Miguel · Miguel · Michel
Pronouncing Miquel
mee-KEL
Two syllables with the weight at the back. The u is silent, exactly as it is in the Spanish spelling, and the qu is a plain k.
Nicknames for Miquel
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
- 198661 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1227reached in 1986
- Change vs 2021
- +14.3%8 in 2023, 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.
Miquel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Miquel in Catalan — same name
- Miguel in Spanish — same name
- Miguel in Portuguese — same name
- Michel in French — same name
Miquels among us
people named Miquel 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
Miquel 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 a genuine standard form in a living language rather than a respelling.
- The stress at the back gives it a firm finish.
- It carries one of the oldest names in continuous use anywhere.
- Miguel is far commoner in America and this will be corrected to it constantly.
- The spelling is recorded for a few girls, but nearly every child with it is a boy.
- The Catalan origin will be invisible to nearly everyone who meets it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Miquel
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Miquels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Miquel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Miquel in 2025?
- Miquel is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Miquel with classmates?
- Miquel 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 Miquel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Miquel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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