Michel
French form of Michael. The Hebrew original, Mikha'el, is a question rather than a statement: who is like God?
Michel in 2025
Michel was given to 31 babies in the United States in 2025 — 22 boys and 9 girls, making it the 7,831st most popular name of the year. That is roughly one in every 106,947 babies born.
The history of Michel
Michel reached its highest point in 1957, when 325 babies were given the name, ranking 940th that year. Its best-ever ranking was 932nd, in 1953.
Across the 146 years of records since 1880, 14,094 babies have been named Michel. Half of them were born before 1968, which places the name's centre of gravity with Generation X.
Michel by decade
| Decade | Babies named Michel | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 24 | 1,606 |
| 1890s | 17 | 1,690 |
| 1900s | 40 | 2,164 |
| 1910s | 187 | 2,407 |
| 1920s | 281 | 2,661 |
| 1930s | 254 | 2,098 |
| 1940s | 1,136 | 1,039 |
| 1950s | 2,663 | 932 |
| 1960s | 2,712 | 969 |
| 1970s | 2,042 | 1,123 |
| 1980s | 1,629 | 1,349 |
| 1990s | 1,283 | 1,787 |
| 2000s | 1,170 | 2,663 |
| 2010s | 446 | 4,470 |
| 2020s | 210 | 6,046 |
Where Michel is heading
Michel has fallen 43% over the past decade, from 54 babies in 2015 to 31 in 2025.
Names like Michel
Names that rose and fell at the same time as Michel.