Michaele
A feminine form of the masculine name Michael, of Hebrew origin, meaning "who is like God?"
Name Census estimates that about 1,357 living Americans carry the first name Michaele. It is a predominantly female name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Michaele today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Michaele births was 1947 (104 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Michaele. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 252,582 Americans
Peak year
1947
104 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2001 SSA rank
#11,733
Tracked since 1933
Census
Michaele in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,774 people with the first name Michaele, which placed it at #8,213 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#8,213
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,774 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Michaele
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Michaele is White at 79.4%. The next largest groups are Black (10.8%) and Hispanic (4.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Michaele described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Michaele at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.4% · 1,409
- Black or African American10.8% · 191
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 84
- Two or more races3.3% · 59
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Michaele
Michaele leans heavily female at 98.9% of total registrations, but 21 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Michaele as a male name
- Ranked #11,733 in 2001
- 5 male births in 2001
- Peak: 1981 (6 births)
Michaele as a female name
- Ranked #14,468 in 2010
- 7 female births in 2010
- Peak: 1947 (104 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Michaele leans strongly female. 1,633 people counted with this name were female (91.9%), compared with 143 male bearers (8.1%).
Popularity
Michaele: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Michaele from the 1930s through to the 2010s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 537 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Michaele by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Michaele during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Michaeles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Michaele, while Connecticut, Oregon, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Michaele
The name Michaele originated from the Hebrew name Michael, derived from the roots mi-ka-el, meaning "who is like God?". It emerged in the ancient Israelite culture during the biblical period, likely as early as the 6th century BC. The earliest known reference to this name appears in the Book of Numbers from the Hebrew Bible, referring to one of the archangels.
In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Michael is depicted as the leader of the heavenly host and the angel who battled Satan. This association with the powerful archangel likely contributed to the widespread adoption and popularity of the name across various cultures and religions.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Michaele was Michael the Syrian, a Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church who lived from 1126 to 1199 AD. He is renowned for his scholarly work, the "Chronicle of Michael the Great," which chronicled world history from the creation until the late 12th century.
Another notable figure was Michael Scot, a Scottish mathematician and scholar who lived from around 1175 to 1232. He was renowned for his translations of scientific works from Arabic into Latin, playing a crucial role in the transmission of knowledge from the Islamic world to medieval Europe.
In the realm of art, Michaele Buonarroti, better known as Michelangelo (1475-1564), was a renowned Italian Renaissance artist, sculptor, painter, and architect. His masterpieces, including the frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the sculpture of David, are among the most celebrated works of art in the world.
Moving to the 19th century, Michael Faraday (1791-1867) was an English scientist who made significant contributions to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His discoveries laid the foundation for the field of electromagnetic technology and earned him recognition as one of the most influential scientists in history.
In the 20th century, Michael Collins (1890-1922) was an Irish revolutionary leader and politician who played a pivotal role in the struggle for Irish independence. He served as the Director of Intelligence for the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence and later became the Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Michaele, each leaving an indelible mark in their respective fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of human civilization.
People
Michaele + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Michaele as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Michaele: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Michaele?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,357 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Michaele going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 252,582 US residents.
Is Michaele a common name?
We classify Michaele as "Rare". It ranks above 91.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,837 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Michaele most popular?
The single biggest year for Michaele was 1947, when 104 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Michaele is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Michaele in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,774 people with the name Michaele, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,213 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Michaele in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Michaele?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Michaele leans strongly female. 1,633 people counted with this name were female (91.9%), compared with 143 male bearers (8.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Michaele?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Michaele is White at 79.4%. The next largest groups are Black (10.8%) and Hispanic (4.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Michaele most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Michaele in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.4% (1,409 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Michaele in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Michaele a female name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Michaele in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Michaele still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Michaele in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Michaele can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Michaele?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.