Michael
Michael is ranked 18th among boys in 2024 (8,189 births). It was the number one boy’s name in 1954–1959, 1961–1998.
- Rank in 2024
- #18down 2 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 8,1890.48% of boys
- Peak year
- 195792,786 births
- Best rank
- #1first in 1954
- Since 1880
- 4,440,391people given the name
The story in the numbers
4,418,526 boys have been named Michael in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1957, with 92,786 births — 4.3% of all boys recorded that year.
It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 7 → 18).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1970, and the 1950s alone account for 19%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 145 of them in the top 100 and 74 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 21,865 girls have also been given it, 0.49% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Michael | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,558 | |
| 1890s | 3,926 | |
| 1900s | 5,220 | |
| 1910s | 30,859 | |
| 1920s | 37,894 | |
| 1930s | 56,000 | |
| 1940s | 336,564 | |
| 1950s | 837,466 | |
| 1960s | 833,070 | |
| 1970s | 707,368 | |
| 1980s | 663,824 | |
| 1990s | 462,451 | |
| 2000s | 250,702 | |
| 2010s | 145,171 | |
| 2020s | 44,453 |
In 1957, its biggest year
Michael was the most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1957 were Michael, James, David, Robert and John. See all of 1957.
Names that rose and fell with Michael
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Terrencepeak 1955
- Terencepeak 1964
- Renardpeak 1970
- Bradfordpeak 1953
- Stevenpeak 1956
- Michealpeak 1957
- Timothypeak 1959
- Daryllpeak 1960
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.