Michael

Origin & meaning

Michael is a given name of Hebrew origin, traditionally understood to mean who is like God. Names like this one traveled far from their roots — carried by scripture, saints, royalty, and popular culture — before settling into everyday American use. Its meaning has stayed remarkably steady even as its pronunciation and spelling shifted from one language to the next.

Popularity by decade

Given names rise and fall with each generation. Michael saw its strongest years around the 1970s, and its relative popularity across the second half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first is sketched below. Reading a name’s peak decade is often a useful clue to a person’s likely age.

• 1950s41
• 1960s72
• 1970s93
• 1980s89
• 1990s63
• 2000s35
• 2010s25

Relative index (0–100), shown for illustration. Peaks and dips reflect broad generational trends.