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The first name 
Michael

Michael is a male first name. In very rare cases it is also used for girls.

Michael is a very popular name!

In the US, Michael is one of the most popular names ever. In the SmartGenius ranking recently, it has regularly been among the top 10 most common boys names and is currently in place 10. In fact, one out auf 300 boys under the age of 10 is named Michael. In total, there are currently 4,375,704 people – children, adults and seniors – named Michael living in the United States, which is approximately 1.3 % of the entire population.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Michael

What does the name 
Michael mean?

The first name Michael stands for ‘Who is like God?’ or ‘gift from God?’. It comes from the Hebrew, namesake is the biblical archangel Michael.

Interesting facts! Especially from the 1930s the name Michael gained a lot of popularity in the USA and was the most popular male first name from 1954 to 1998.

There are many famous Michaels in the world

The 'King of Pop'

Michael Jackson (1958 - 2009)
Michael Joseph Jackson was an exceptional artist who, according to the 'Guinness Book of Records', is the most successful entertainer of all time and also the artist who provided financial and representative support to the most charities in the world. He was given the nickname 'King of Pop'.

A fictional character

Michael 'Mike' Wheeler
The fictional character is one of the main characters and leader of the main group of children in the Netflix series 'Stranger Things'. He is embodied by Finn Wolfhard.

An actor & producer

Michael J. Fox (*1961)
Michael J. Fox, is a former Canadian-American actor and film producer. He became a Hollywood star in the 1980s with the lead role as Marty McFly in the 'Back to the Future' film trilogy. After suffering from Parkinson's disease, he founded the 'Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research' (MJFF) and is involved in science policy.

An actor

Michael Sheen (*1969)
Michael Christopher Sheen is a Welsh theater, film and television actor. He was trained at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked primarly in theatre. In the 2000s he became a screen actor and has since starred in movies like 'Frost/Nixon', 'Underworld: RIse of the Lycans' and the miniseries 'Good Omens'.

A basketball player

Michael Jordan (*1963)
The NBA itself calls him the best basketball player of all time. Michael Jordan is a former basketball player and now an entrepreneur and majority owner of the Charlotte Hornets. He played for the Chicago Bulls and later for the Washington Wizards.

An archangel

Michael
According to the Tanakh, Michael is an archangel and appears in the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Baha'i faith. In Christianity, he is seen as the conqueror of Satan.

Go on a journey to places 
with your name

When you hear the name Michael, you might first think of people. But did you know that there are also places with the name Michael? Are you also called Michael? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...

A carrack

The Great Michael, also named only Michael, was a carrack or great ship of the Kingdom of Scotland.

Michael...

is a sheading on the Isle of Man. It is located in the north-west of the island.

Many places...

in Austria are named St. Michael, also a town in Minnesota.

Michael -
a number 1 name of the younger past!

44 - this is the amount with which the first name Michael has already reached the top position, i.e. rank 1, of the most popular first names for boys in the USA. But the last time was a while ago, in the year 1998, when 36,745 newborn boys were given this beautiful name. And even when it wasn't on top in the younger past, it has been given by new parents to their sons every year since first name statistics began in 1880, putting it in the exclusive circle of only 442 first names for boys that are given at least 5 times a year in the USA. This makes Michael one of the timeless classics among first names that have truly become part of the American identity.

In years where the graph has no value, the name Michael was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.

2022: Position 16 for the first name Michael

In 2022, the first name Michael was given 8,848 times to newborn boys, ranking it #16. The name was given least a long time ago, in the year 1892, where it ranked #57 – only 380 newborn boys were given this first name then.

Michael -
the most common name in Alaska, at home in the entire USA

Regardless of where you live in the US, chances are you know someone called Michael. Because: There are men and boys named Michael in every state in the USA. If this does not sound particularly spectacular to you, you should know that of the more than 50,000 different male first names that occur in the USA, just 386 are recorded in each individual state, so the name Michael is definitely something very special. In some regions it’s even the most frequently found male first name, for example in Alaska, where Michael is number one in our SmartGenius ranking of the most common first names for men. The greatest chance of meeting Michael, however, is in Rhode Island. (Interesting to know: The state in which a name achieves the highest ranking compared to all other names does not have to be the state in which it also occurs most frequently in relation to the population.) In Rhode Island, one in 25 boys and men bears this popular name – that is far above average – in the entire USA it is only one in 38 men and boys and in Mississippi where the name is least represented in relation to the population, you even have to ask an average of 56 men and boys for their name before you once get Michael as an answer.

Michael has 7 letters 
and begins with an M

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter M is a particularly popular initial letter for boys’ names – 6.2% of all common boys’ names in the US begin with this letter. By the way, the most common first letters for boys’ names are J and A.

With seven letters, the name Michael has a typical length for first names in the US. In fact, 26% of all common first names consist of exactly seven letters. 52% of all first names are shorter, while 22% have eight letters or more. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.

That means that with 6.2% of all boys' names that begin with an M, this first letter is much more common than the other letters on average. If you are now wondering which boys’ name with M is the most common... the answer is Michael.

Other names with 
M, i, c, h, a, e and l

If you take all the letters in the name Michael – M, i, c, h, a, e and l – and put them together again, you can form other names, such as Micahel or others.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Michael

If your name is Michael and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...

This is how you spell the name Michael

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Michael, you can simply say:

Mouse

Igloo

Cat

Hat

Apple

Elephant

Lion

This is how the name Michael is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Michael in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Michael

Michael

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Michael

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Michael is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

M
I
C
H
A
E
L

Have you ever waved the name Michael

In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.

M
I
C
H
A
E
L

Beeping like crazy...

In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Michael sounds like this: