Misael
Masculine · Hebrew roots · “Who is what God is?”
Misael is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 10,395 boys against 16 girls since 1880.
Misael is the form the name of one of Daniel's companions took as it passed through Greek and Latin on its way into Spanish and Portuguese. It is built as a question — three syllables that rise to the ending -el, the Hebrew word for God, the same ending carried by Gabriel, Rafael and Daniel itself. In the US it has been in continuous use for generations without ever crowding a classroom.
How old is the name Misael?
Misael first appears in US birth records in 1955 — 70 years ago. The typical Misael alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 10,000 people named Misael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Misael most popular?
Misael peaked in 2006, reaching #616 nationally. Today it ranks #733, 117 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Mishael (Hebrew) to Misael
The story of Misael
The name is Hebrew, and it belongs to more than one figure in the Bible: a Levite in Exodus, a man who stood beside Ezra as the Law was read in Nehemiah, and — best known — one of the three young men taken to Babylon with Daniel, renamed Meshach by the king's officials. Greek translators wrote it Misael, and the Latin Vulgate kept that spelling, which is why Catholic Europe and later Latin America inherited Misael while English Bibles print Mishael. Spanish and Portuguese have used it steadily ever since, and it reached the United States largely through Spanish-speaking families, where it remains most at home.
Meaning
Who is what God is?
The Hebrew Mishael is a question-name, built from mi (who), sha (what, that which) and el (God). It sits one syllable away from Michael, mi-ka-el, "who is like God?" — the two are cousins in construction rather than the same name.
How the name formed
- MishaelHebrew
- MisaēlGreek Septuagint
- MisaelLatin Vulgate
- MisaelSpanish and Portuguese
Related forms: Mishael · Mishael · Misael · Misaël · Misaēl · Misail
Pronouncing Misael
mee-sah-EL
That is the Spanish pronunciation, with the stress on the last syllable and each vowel given its own beat. English speakers often land on mee-SY-el or MY-sale instead, so most bearers get used to offering the version their family uses.
Nicknames for Misael
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
- 1955
- Most boys named
- 2006385 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #616reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −1.4%359 in 2025, from 364
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.
Misael in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mishael in Hebrew — transliteration
- Mishael in English (Bible) — spelling variant
- Misael in Portuguese — same name
- Misaël in French — spelling variant
- Misaēl in Greek — transliteration
- Misail in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Arizona.
Misaels among us
people named Misael are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 4,758 born in 2025 was named Misael
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 Earlie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Misael's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Earlie climbed just as high around 1907, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Earlie's path sketches the road Misael is walking now.
Misael 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
Where Misael is headed
Misael should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Misael beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Misael in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One spelling works in both Spanish and English, with no accent mark to lose in forms, databases or email addresses.
- A documented record stretching from the Hebrew Bible through Greek and Latin to modern Spanish — an unbroken line rather than a recent coinage.
- Shares the -el ending of Daniel, Gabriel and Rafael, so it sits naturally alongside names people already read without hesitation.
- Has real short forms in circulation — Misa, Sael — rather than depending on the full name alone.
- It will be heard as Michael, or corrected to it, more often than anyone would like. Expect a lifetime of confirming the s, and of people assuming Misa is short for Misha.
- English speakers who do not know the name tend to guess the stress wrong, so the first introduction usually comes with a small correction attached.
- The biblical link is real but half-hidden in English: the Daniel companion appears as Mishael in English Bibles and is better remembered by his Babylonian name, Meshach. Spanish-speaking relatives will catch the connection immediately; others may not.
- Outside of families with Spanish-language ties it is genuinely uncommon, so a child is unlikely to meet another one — appealing to some parents, isolating to others.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Misael to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Misael
Masculine · Hebrew roots · #733 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Misaels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,000 people named Misael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Misael in 2025?
- Misael ranks #733 among US boy names in 2025, with 359 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Misael?
- About 1 in every 4,758 US boys born in 2025 was named Misael — 359 in all.
- Will my child share the name Misael with classmates?
- Misael will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Misael
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Case#733 · Hugh#732 · Ambrose#735 · Mylo#736 · Amos#730 · Huxley#736 · Marcel#730 · Ander#728
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Misael? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Misael and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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