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Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Boy's nameOrigin: biblicalIn Israel: steady

MichaelIn Hebrew: מיכאל · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: מִיכָאֵלRomanization: mikha'él

Michael (Hebrew: מיכאל) is a boy's name of biblical origin. 52,894 people born in Israel between 1949 and 2024 have it today, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In 2024 it was given to 892 boys and ranked #18. Its peak year was 1953, with 1,026 babies.

People in Israel
52,894
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
892
rank #18
Peak year
1953
1,026 babies
USA, 2025
8,094
rank #21

Writing and saying Michael

In Hebrew letters the name is מיכאל, read right to left. Michael is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms. Wiktionary romanizes it as "mikha'él" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).

Meaning and origin

  • the Archangel Michael, associated with defending the people of Israel.
  • a male given name, equivalent to English Michael
Compound of מִי (mí, “who”) + כַּ־ (ka-, “like”) + אֵל (él, “God”), literally “who is like God?”

Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.

Michael by year: Israel and abroad

How many boys out of every 10,000 born each year have the name. For Israel it counts the people born that year who carry the name today (the CBS counts residents by year of birth, not birth registrations).

Michael: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Michael in English-speaking countries

Michael in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States20258,094#211957 (92,781)
United Kingdom2025736#801997 (4,524)
England and Wales2025615#851996 (4,187)
Scotland202571#651990 (973)
Northern Ireland202550#381997 (263)
Ireland2025188#231964 (2,157)
British Columbia202350#531984 (813)
Alberta202550#811983 (819)
Quebec202572#1001991 (985)
New South Wales2025128#621961 (1,918)

Counts for boys. The Hebrew page for Michael has every year and the other spellings.

Related Israeli names

Spelling variants and names that look or sound close in Hebrew.

Questions about Michael

How do you write Michael in Hebrew?

Michael is written מיכאל in Hebrew (with vowel points: מִיכָאֵל). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "mikha'él".

How many people in Israel are named Michael?

52,894 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name מיכאל: 168 women and 52,726 men. The count comes from the CBS table of current first names by year of birth; years with fewer than 5 people are not published.

Is Michael a boy's or a girl's name?

In Israel it is almost always a boy's name: 99.7% of the people named מיכאל are men.

What does the name Michael mean?

English Wiktionary describes it as: "the Archangel Michael, associated with defending the people of Israel." Etymology: Compound of מִי (mí, “who”) + כַּ־ (ka-, “like”) + אֵל (él, “God”), literally “who is like God?”

Is Michael used outside Israel?

The name Michael appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 8,094 boys were given it in 2025 (#21), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 736 in 2025 (ONS, NRS and NISRA combined).

Sources

Israel: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), current first names of people born 1949–2024 by sex, population group and year of birth, processed 2026-09-27. CBS publications.

Abroad

Counts are copied as published. We only merged accented spellings (Zoë = Zoe) and computed ranks and rates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia and the Open Government Licence – Alberta.