Mykael
Masculine · “Hebrew”
Mykael is given to both — 544 boys and 126 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Ukrainian writes Michael as Mykhailo, with a y in the first syllable. So a spelling that looks like an American respelling happens to match a real Slavic form exactly, which is the kind of accident that makes name etymology difficult.
How old is the name Mykael?
Mykael first appears in US birth records in 1986 — 39 years ago. The typical Mykael alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 500 people named Mykael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mykael most popular?
Mykael peaked in 2010, reaching #3531 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 6,183 places below that high. See the whole 2010 chart.
Where it comes from
From Mikhael to Mykael
The story of Mykael
Slavic languages distinguish two i-type vowels, and Ukrainian and Russian transliteration into Roman letters uses y for one of them, which is why Ukrainian gives Mykhailo, Mykola and Myroslav where Russian gives Mikhail, Nikolai and Miroslav. That is a real distinction doing real work. The y in an American respelling is doing something else entirely: it marks the name as deliberately spelled, distinguishes it on a page, and carries no phonological information at all, since y and i are read identically in that position in English. The two therefore look alike and are not. This happens often enough to be worth a rule: when an American respelling coincides with a foreign form, the coincidence is almost always accidental, and treating it as evidence of origin is how false etymologies get into circulation.
Meaning
Hebrew, who is like God?
Mykael is a respelling of Michael, Hebrew Mikha'el, a rhetorical question meaning who is like God, expecting the answer none. The y coincides with the Ukrainian and Belarusian forms Mykhailo and Mikhail, which use it for genuine phonological reasons. The American spelling is not derived from them. The peak is 2010.
How the name formed
- Mikhael
- Michael
- Mykael
Related forms: Michael · Mykhailo · Mikhail
Pronouncing Mykael
MY-kul
Two syllables, stress on the first. Mykael and Michael are homophones. Ukrainian Mykhailo has three syllables and a throat sound English lacks.
Nicknames for Mykael
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
- 1986
- Most boys named
- 201030 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3531reached in 2010
- Change vs 2024
- −46.2%7 in 2025, from 13
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.
Mykael in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Michael in English — spelling variant
- Mykhailo in Ukrainian — same name
- Mikhail in Russian — same name
Mykaels among us
people named Mykael are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Mykael
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Mykael
- #9714
- Mykael on the 2025 chart
- #666
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Mykael went to 7 boys in 2025, but Mikael, Mikhael and Mikaeel and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 272, which makes it the 666th most-given boys’ name of the year — 9,048 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 6,280 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 244,011 for Mykael 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 Bengamin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Mykael's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bengamin climbed just as high around 1922, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bengamin's path sketches the road Mykael is walking now.
Mykael 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
Mykael beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mykael in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The standard short forms of Michael are all available.
- The name behind it is one of the most recognized in the world.
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- Michael is overwhelmingly the standard spelling.
- The y and ae both read as respellings.
- It will be corrected by most systems.
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What they receive
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Mykael
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mykaels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Mykael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Mykael?
- Mykael is one of 6 recorded spellings. Mikael is the more common one — 176 births in 2025 against 7 for Mykael.
- How popular is the name Mykael in 2025?
- Mykael ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mykael?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Mykael — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mykael with classmates?
- Mykael will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mykael
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mykael? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mykael and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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