Michelle

Where Michelle comes from

Borrowed from French Michelle, feminine form of French Michel (“Michael”), Hebrew מִיכָאֵל (mikhaél, “who is like God?”). Doublet of Michaela.
— Wiktionary's entry for Michelle
  • Hebrew
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1915
    First appearance
    #4,274 among girls, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1951
    Michelle Bachelet born
    president of Chile from (2006–2010; 2014–2018)
  3. 1964
    Michelle Obama born
    lawyer and former First Lady of the United States
  4. 1969
    Peak, #2
    34,319 babies named Michelle — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1983
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #13.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Hebrew, popular from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Namesakes
  • Michelle Obama · lawyer and former First Lady of the United States, born 1964
  • Michelle Bachelet · president of Chile from (2006–2010; 2014–2018), born 1951
  • Michelle Pfeiffer · American actress, born 1958
  • Michelle Rodriguez · American actress, born 1978
  • Michelle Yeoh · Malaysian actress, born 1962

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.