boy's name
Michel
mee-SHEL
- Origin French
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 836,652
Ireland
#374
1983 births
Michel is a boy's name, the French form of Michael, from a Hebrew question meaning who is like God. With 834,881 recorded births it is one of the largest French names on this site, though it now charts in only two markets.
- Michel is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 1947, when 32,590 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 9,825 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Michel over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 9,975 |
| 1910s | 13,525 |
| 1920s | 53,475 |
| 1930s | 152,335 |
| 1940s | 241,065 |
| 1950s | 215,765 |
| 1960s | 95,480 |
| 1970s | 23,880 |
| 1980s | 8,430 |
| 1990s | 3,815 |
| 2000s | 1,685 |
| 2010s | 855 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 405 |
What Michel means
Michel means who is like God. The Hebrew is a rhetorical question whose implied answer is nobody, so it asserts that God has no equal rather than describing the child.
Where Michel comes from
Michel is the French form of the Hebrew Mikha'el — mi, who, kha, like, el, God. The archangel Michael asks it as a war cry in Jewish tradition, and he appears in Revelation casting the dragon out of heaven, which made him the patron of soldiers across medieval Europe. Mont-Saint-Michel, the abbey on its tidal island in Normandy, was founded in the eighth century after the archangel reportedly appeared to a local bishop, and it is the single strongest reason the name saturated French naming. The feminine Michelle is formed from it and reached English separately.
Michel in use
Michel peaked in France in 1947, when 32,590 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now charts in only three of our seven markets — 707th in France on 60 births, 1800th in Canada and 4687th in the United States — across 836,652 lifetime births. The contrast with its own feminine is sharp: Michelle charts in three of the seven markets and is far more widely used outside France than Michel has ever been.
How popular is Michel?
In 2025, Michel was given to 60 babies in France, ranking #707 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Michel is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Michel
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Michel also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Michel over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Michel
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Michel in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Aragonese
- Miguel
- Armenian
- Michael
- Belarusian
- Mikhail
- Bulgarian
- Mikhail
- Catalan
- Miquel
- Danish
- Michael
- French
- Michael
- Galician
- Miguel
- German
- Michael
- Greek
- Michael
- Italian
- Michele
- Japanese
- Mika
- Lithuanian
- Mykolas
- Portuguese
- Miguel
- Romanian
- Mihai
- Russian
- Mikhail
- Seediq
- Mika
- Slovene
- Mihael
- Spanish
- Miguel
Sibling names for Michel
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Michel — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Michel
What does the name Michel mean?
Who is like God — a rhetorical question whose implied answer is nobody.
Is Michel the same as Michael?
Yes, it is the French form of the same Hebrew name.
Is Michel related to Mont-Saint-Michel?
The abbey is named for the archangel the name comes from, and it is a large part of why the name became so common in France.
How popular is Michel?
707th in France, down from a 1947 peak of 32,590 births.
Is Michel a girl's or a boy's name?
Michel is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Michel?
Michel has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Michel?
Michel is usually shortened to Mich.
Is Michel a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Michel currently ranks #707 in France. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.