boy's name
Miguel
mee-GEL
- Origin Spanish
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 213,370
the United States
#212
2025 births
Miguel is a boy's name meaning who is like God, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Michael. It peaked in 2007 — one of the two latest peaks in this group — and ranks 212th in the United States.
- Miguel is a name of Spanish origin.
- Peaked in 2007, when 4,914 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 1,996 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Miguel over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 83 |
| 1890s | 121 |
| 1900s | 192 |
| 1910s | 783 |
| 1920s | 1,846 |
| 1930s | 1,661 |
| 1940s | 2,492 |
| 1950s | 6,194 |
| 1960s | 9,865 |
| 1970s | 16,487 |
| 1980s | 25,830 |
| 1990s | 41,284 |
| 2000s | 46,223 |
| 2010s | 26,966 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 11,535 |
What Miguel means
Miguel 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 Miguel comes from
Miguel is the Spanish and Portuguese 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 casts down the dragon in Revelation, which made him patron of soldiers across Europe. Miguel de Cervantes, whose Don Quixote of 1605 is generally counted the first modern novel, is the name's most consequential bearer, and Miguel Hidalgo began the Mexican war of independence in 1810. Its American curve peaks far later than most names of comparable size because its volume arrived with Hispanic immigration.
Miguel in use
Miguel peaked in the United States in 2007, when 4,914 babies were registered — forty to eighty years later than most names in this group. It now ranks 212th in the United States on 1,661 births, 362nd in Ireland on 11, 478th in France on 100, 496th in England and Wales on 78 and 698th in Scotland, across 213,370 lifetime births in six of the seven markets we track.
How popular is Miguel?
In 2025, Miguel was given to 1,661 babies in the United States, ranking #212 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Miguel is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Miguel is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Miguël | Miguël is a rare spelling of Miguel, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 30 times, mostly in France. | 30 |
| Migüel | Migüel is a rare spelling of Miguel, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 10 times, mostly in France. | 10 |
Names that peaked alongside Miguel
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Miguel also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Miguel over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Miguel 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.
- Armenian
- Michael
- Basque
- Mikel
- Belarusian
- Mikhail
- Bulgarian
- Mikhail
- Catalan
- Miquel
- Georgian
- Mikael
- German
- Michael
- Greek
- Michael
- Japanese
- Mika
- Latin American Spanish
- Maicol
- Lithuanian
- Mykolas
- Portuguese
- Micael
- Romanian
- Mihai
- Russian
- Mikhail
- Seediq
- Mika
- Slovene
- Mihael
- Swedish
- Micael
- Turkish
- Mikail
- Ukrainian
- Mykhailo
Sibling names for Miguel
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Miguel — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Miguel
What does the name Miguel mean?
Who is like God — a rhetorical question whose implied answer is nobody.
Is Miguel the same as Michael?
Yes, the Spanish and Portuguese form of the same Hebrew name.
When did Miguel peak?
2007 in the United States, decades later than most names of comparable size, reflecting Hispanic immigration.
How popular is Miguel?
212th in the United States, and it charts in five of the six markets we track.
Is Miguel a girl's or a boy's name?
Miguel is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Miguel?
Miguel has 2 syllables.
Is Miguel a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Miguel currently ranks #212 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.