Michael
given name · Latin script
Meaning: from the male personal name Michael, ultimately from Hebrew, literally 'who is like God?'
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/maɪkəl/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Michael is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country, where it is the 2nd most common given name.
- IEIreland≈1 in 69(inferred from the name graph)
- DEGermany≈1 in 71
- GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 73
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Michael itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- United States (measured from records)
- #3 (measured from records)
- 10 (measured from records)
- Sources
- 726 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 69 (inferred from the name graph)
3,476,721 people, 2020
of 15M given names
recorded for this name
Highest-authority source
Ireland, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
Locally spelled Михаил in RU Russia, Michal in CZ Czechia and Mikael in FI Finland.
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
from the male personal name Michael, ultimately from Hebrew, literally 'who is like God?'
Sources 1
- Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]
Attested across 10 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Michael counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | #2 | 3,476,721 | 1 in 96 | 3.5M | Michael | 726 |
| RU Russia | #22 | ≈1,600,000 est. | ≈1 in 89 | #8 | Михаил | 272 |
| DE Germany | #2 | ≈1,100,000 est. | ≈1 in 71 | listed | Michael | 389 |
| GB United Kingdom | #3 | ≈900,000 est. | ≈1 in 73 | 626 | Michael | 482 |
| NG Nigeria | #13 | ≈710,000 est. | ≈1 in 300 | — | Michael | 200 |
| CZ Czechia | #3 | 246,648as Michal | 1 in 43 | 247K | Michal | 211 |
| FI Finland | #144 | 106,915as Mikael | 1 in 52 | 133K | Mikael | 112 |
| IE Ireland | #3 | ≈75,000 est. | ≈1 in 69 | — | Michael | 225 |
3,476,721 people counted by Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex, 2020. Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; ONS — Baby names England and Wales (2024); MVČR — living population register 2017; DVV — Etunimitilasto (Finnish given names register); DVV — Nimipalvelu (Finnish name service, per-name lookup). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Michael is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
Michael is a classic and enduring name of Hebrew origin that means "who is like God?". A timeless name with strong biblical roots, it belongs to one of the most powerful archangels, making it a symbol of strength, protection, and leadership. Popular across many cultures for centuries, it has numerous variations and nicknames, offering both traditional and modern appeal.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Michael is an ancient and enduringly popular masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Who is like God?". As one of the oldest names still in common use, it is associated with strength and divine protection, largely due to its connection with the Archangel Michael, who is revered in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as a protector and leader of heavenly armies.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Michael is a classic and powerful name of Hebrew origin meaning "Who is like God?". It has been popular for centuries, associated with the Archangel Michael, who is known as a strong protector and a warrior for good, making it a name that signifies strength, leadership, and faith.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Michael, meaning 'Who is like God?', is a classic and enduring biblical name. While this particular Michael is a minor figure in a genealogy, the name is most famously associated with the archangel Michael, a symbol of strength, leadership, and divine protection.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Michael is a timeless and powerful biblical name meaning 'who is like God?'. In the Bible, a man named Michael was the father of Zebadiah, a leader who faithfully guided his family back to Jerusalem from exile, representing a heritage of commitment and divine providence.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Franz von Papenb. 1879DEnot in their usual nameGerman general staff officer, politician, diplomat, nobleman and Chancellor of Germany (1879–1969)
- Michael Bondb. 1926GBBritish writer (1926–2017)
- Michael Collinsb. 1930USAmerican astronaut (1930–2021)
- Michael Caineb. 1933GBEnglish actor (born 1933)
- Mikhail Talb. 1936LVnot in their usual nameSoviet-Latvian chess player (1936-1992)
- Michael Douglasb. 1944USAmerican actor, producer and activist (born 1944)
- Ozzy Osbourneb. 1948GBnot in their usual nameEnglish musician and television personality (1948–2025)
- Michael Keatonb. 1951USAmerican actor
- Michael Ballackb. 1976DEGerman association football player (born 1976)
- Michael Owenb. 1976GBEnglish association football player
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 187 sources across 95 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 3.5M | #1 |
| CZ Czechia | MVČR — living population register 2017 | — | 26K | #128 |
| CZ Czechia | naše jména — 2016 MVČR snapshot | — | 13K | #143 |
| FI Finland | DVV — Nimipalvelu (Finnish name service, per-name lookup) | — | 11K | #195 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2025 | 8.1K | — |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 7.3K | #1 |
| FI Finland | DVV — Etunimitilasto (Finnish given names register) | — | 4.8K | — |
| GB United Kingdom | ONS — Baby names England and Wales (2024) | 2024 | 626 | #85 |
Reference works 10
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Rymut, Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych (10 vols, IJP PAN, Kraków 1992–1994) — every Polish surname in the PESEL register at the end of 1990, with bearer counts nationally and per voivodeship1990
- Søndergaard, Georg, Danske efternavne (Lademann 1984/1991)
- Ethiopian name tokens (GitHub lehagere/ethiopian-names, 40/60 condominium list)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Michael a male or female name?
- Michael is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- What does the name Michael mean, and where does it come from?
- from the male personal name Michael, ultimately from Hebrew, literally 'who is like God?' Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].
- What are other forms of the name Michael?
- In the etymology graph, Miguel, Michel and Micheal are forms of the same name in other languages; Mike, Mick and Micky are recorded short or pet forms.
- How common is the name Michael?
- In the United States, the national register counted 3,476,721 people named Michael in 2020, about 1 in 96 residents.
- How common is Michael compared with other names?
- In the United States, Michael is the 2nd most common given name of 2,815,431 given names recorded there.
- In which country does Michael have the most bearers?
- In the United States, the national register counted about 3.5 million people named Michael, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled michael.
- How do you pronounce Michael?
- A machine transcription gives /maɪkəl/ (IPA) for English.
What do you want to know about Michael?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/michaelThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Michael” — the 2nd most common given name in United States. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.