first name
MICHAEL
of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census
Of the 3,476,721 people named Michael, 79% reported their origin as White, 7.9% as Black and 7.8% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are male (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.
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Michael peaked in 1957, when 93,036 babies got the name.
At least 4,448,633 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.
Michael by decade
Among all names given to American babies, it ranked #1 in every decade from the 1960s to the 1990s. The largest share of babies named Michael, 33%, were born during the baby boom (1946–1964).
Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.
Where Michael is most common
Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Michael has been most common in Rhode Island (1.5×), District of Columbia (1.5×), and Connecticut (1.4×), and least common in Mississippi (0.63×).
4,430,533 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.
Either side of Michael
Spelled almost the same
8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Michael, most common first.
Also a last name
As a last name, Michael ranks #909 of 156,621, with 37,760 people. See Michael as a last name
Compare
🔎 MICHAEL 🟦⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 1 in 87 Americans More common than 98.8% of us Peaked in 1957 with 93,036 babies Beat that 👇 https://howrareismy.name/first/michael/