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Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Girl's nameOrigin: biblicalIn Israel: steady

MichalIn Hebrew: מיכל · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: מִיכַלRomanization: mikhál

Michal (Hebrew: מיכל) is a girl's name of biblical origin. 50,413 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 576 girls and ranked #27. Its peak year was 1974, with 1,101 babies.

People in Israel
50,413
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
576
rank #27
Peak year
1974
1,101 babies
USA, 2025
33
rank #4,265

Writing and saying Michal

In Hebrew letters the name is מיכל, read right to left. Michal 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 "mikhál" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).

Meaning and origin

  • Michal (a daughter of Saul and wife of David in the Old Testament)
  • a female given name, Michal

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

Michal by year: Israel and abroad

How many girls 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).

Michal: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Michal in English-speaking countries

Michal in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States202533#4,2651985 (90)
United Kingdom20255#4,2762011 (12)
England and Wales20255#4,2002011 (12)

Counts for girls. The Hebrew page for Michal has every year and the other spellings.

Related Israeli names

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

Questions about Michal

How do you write Michal in Hebrew?

Michal is written מיכל in Hebrew (with vowel points: מִיכַל). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "mikhál".

How many people in Israel are named Michal?

50,413 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name מיכל: 50,163 women and 250 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 Michal a boy's or a girl's name?

In Israel it is almost always a girl's name: 99.5% of the people named מיכל are women.

What does the name Michal mean?

English Wiktionary describes it as: "Michal (a daughter of Saul and wife of David in the Old Testament)"

Is Michal used outside Israel?

The name Michal appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 33 girls were given it in 2025 (#4,265), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 5 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.