Michel

Where Michel comes from

Either a reborrowing of French Michel or a continuation (with pronunciation influenced by Modern French) of Middle English Michel, both from Old French Michel, from Latin Michāēl, borrowed from Koine Greek Μῐχᾱήλ (Mĭkhāḗl), from Biblical Hebrew מִיכָאֵל (mîḵāʾēl, literally “who is like God?”). Doublet of Michael, Miguel, and Mikhail.
— Wiktionary's entry for Michel
  • French
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1533
    Michel de Montaigne born
    French author, philosopher, and statesman
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #809 among boys — 6 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1926
    Michel Foucault born
    French philosopher
  4. 1957
    Peak, #457
    284 babies named Michel — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1973
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #676.
  6. 2010
    Mostly boys from here
    Until now more girls than boys got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from French, equivalent to English Michael.
Namesakes
  • Michel de Montaigne · French author, philosopher, and statesman, 1533–1592
  • Michel Foucault · French philosopher, 1926–1984
  • Michel Platini · French football player, manager and executive, born 1955
  • Michel Houellebecq · French writer, born 1956
  • Michel Temer · 24th Vice-President of Brazil from 2011 to 2016 and 37th President of Brazil from 2016 to 2019, born 1940

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.