Michel
A masculine French given name derived from the Hebrew name Michael, meaning "who is like God?"
Name Census estimates that about 11,407 living Americans carry the first name Michel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Michel today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Michel births was 1957 (325 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Michel. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Michel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 30,048 Americans
Peak year
1957
325 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,651
Tracked since 1880
Census
Michel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 19,538 people with the first name Michel, which placed it at #1,625 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
#1,625
National first-name rank
People counted
20K
19,538 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Michel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Michel is White at 53.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.9%) and Black (14.8%). 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 Michel 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 Michel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.5% · 10,448
- Hispanic or Latino26.9% · 5,253
- Black or African American14.8% · 2,883
- Two or more races2.4% · 471
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 392
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 91
Gender
Gender distribution for Michel
Michel is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 14,061 total registrations, 10,516 (74.8%) were male and 3,545 (25.2%) were female.
Michel as a male name
- Ranked #3,651 in 2024
- 31 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (284 births)
Michel as a female name
- Ranked #7,815 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1966 (89 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Michel on both sides of the split. Of the 19,539 people counted with this name, 15,184 were male (77.7%) and 4,355 were female (22.3%).
Popularity
Michel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Michel from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 2,713 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
Michel 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 Michel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Michels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Michel, while Vermont, Idaho, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 192 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Michel
The name Michel is derived from the Hebrew name Michael, which means "who is like God?" It is a name with deep biblical roots, first appearing in the Book of Daniel as the name of an archangel. The name gained widespread popularity across Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly in France and other areas with Roman Catholic influence.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Michel can be found in medieval French texts and records from the 9th century onwards. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Michel de Hartmann, a 9th-century Frankish military leader and nobleman. Another notable early bearer was Michel de Maasmechelen, a 13th-century Flemish knight and crusader.
Throughout history, several prominent figures have borne the name Michel. In the realm of art and literature, Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) was a renowned French Renaissance philosopher and essayist. Michel de Cervantes (1547-1616), the Spanish author, is best known for his iconic novel "Don Quixote." Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592) was a highly influential French Renaissance philosopher, known for his pioneering work in the genre of the essay.
In the world of science and exploration, Michel Adanson (1727-1806) was a French naturalist and explorer who made significant contributions to the study of botany and natural history. Michel Rolle (1652-1719) was a French mathematician who made important contributions to the development of calculus.
In the realm of politics and leadership, Michel Ney (1769-1815) was a French military leader and Marshal of France during the Napoleonic Wars. Michel Aoun (born 1935) is a Lebanese politician and former military commander who served as President of Lebanon from 2016 to 2022.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Michel, highlighting its enduring presence across various fields and cultures.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Michel
People
Michel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Michel 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
Michel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Michel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,407 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Michel 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 30,048 US residents.
Is Michel a common name?
We classify Michel as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,061 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Michel most popular?
The single biggest year for Michel was 1957, when 325 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Michel is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Michel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 19,538 people with the name Michel, or 6.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,625 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 Michel 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 Michel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Michel on both sides of the split. Of the 19,539 people counted with this name, 15,184 were male (77.7%) and 4,355 were female (22.3%). 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 Michel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Michel is White at 53.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.9%) and Black (14.8%). 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 Michel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Michel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.5% (10,448 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 Michel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Michel a male name?
Yes, 74.8% of people registered as Michel in the SSA data are male. 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 Michel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Michel 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 Michel 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 many Americans are named Michel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.