Mychal
Masculine · “who is like God”
Mychal is given to both — 2,007 boys and 265 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Mychal is what happens to a name that is on every roster in the country. When a name is that common, parents who want it anyway look for a way to make their child's version their own, and the least disruptive change is a letter that alters nothing in speech. The y does exactly that — and the ch it leaves alone is the more interesting letter, because it is Greek.
How old is the name Mychal?
Mychal first appears in US birth records in 1978 — 47 years ago. The typical Mychal alive today was born around 1990, making them about 35 years old. About 1,900 people named Mychal are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mychal most popular?
Mychal peaked in 1988, reaching #662 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 11,346 places below that high. See the whole 1988 chart.
Where it comes from
From Mikha'el to Mychal
The story of Mychal
Michael reached its widest American use in the second half of the twentieth century, holding the top of the list for a long stretch, and the respellings appeared in its wake — Mychal, Mikal, Mykal, Michael with every vowel replaced in turn. This one has a further life of its own: it has been carried by well-known Americans in sport and in the church, which gives it a foothold that most respellings never get. It is also, unusually for a name altered this way, easy to read on sight, since the y in an unstressed English syllable does nothing surprising.
Meaning
who is like God
From Hebrew Mikha'el, a question asked rhetorically. The ch in every European spelling of the name is not an English sound at all: it is the Greek letter chi, used to transliterate the Hebrew, and it has been said as a plain k in English for centuries.
How the name formed
- Mikha'el
- Michael
- Mychal
Related forms: Mikha'el · Michael · Michal · Michał
Pronouncing Mychal
MY-kul
Two syllables, stress on the first, identical to the standard spelling. The y sits in the stressed syllable and says exactly what the i said, which is why the change is invisible in speech. The Czech Michal, which looks close, is said MEE-khal and is a different thing.
Nicknames for Mychal
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
- 1978
- Most boys named
- 1988203 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #662reached in 1988
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%5 in 2025, 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.
Mychal in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mikha'el in Hebrew — transliteration
- Michael in Greek — transliteration
- Michal in Czech — same name
- Michał in Polish — same name
Mychals among us
people named Mychal are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Mychal
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mychal
- #12008
- Mychal on the 2025 chart
- #908
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mychal went to 5 boys in 2025, but Michal is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 20, which makes it the 908th most-given boys’ name of the year — 11,100 places above the chart.
- Michal15
- Mychal5
About 1 boy in 85,404 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 341,615 for Mychal itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Brook test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mychal's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Brook climbed just as high around 1961, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Brook's path sketches the road Mychal is walking now.
Mychal 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
Mychal beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mychal in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is instantly readable, which most respellings of common names are not.
- The name behind it is universally known and carried in three religious traditions.
- Mike is available and requires nothing of anybody.
- It gives a very common name a distinct written form without changing a sound.
- Every document will offer Michael, and the correction is a lifelong small errand.
- The difference is silent, so nobody learns the spelling by ear and it has to be dictated.
- It sits among Mikal, Mykal and Michal, all of which will be written by people half-remembering.
- Nearly every child given this spelling is a boy, and the record's girls are very few.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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Mychal
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mychals 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 Mychal are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mychal?
- Mychal is one of 2 recorded spellings. Michal is the more common one — 15 births in 2025 against 5 for Mychal.
- How popular is the name Mychal in 2025?
- Mychal ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mychal?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Mychal — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mychal with classmates?
- Mychal will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mychal
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mychal? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mychal and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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