Michael

While Michael is better known as one of the most popular boy names of the last century, you might be surprised to learn that it featured in the Top 1000 names for girls in the US, from 1938 until 1994. In the late 1970s and early 80s, during the heyday of The Waltons, which starred actress Michael Learned, it reached as high as the 300s

Derived from Hebrew and meaning "who is like God?", the name peaked in 1986 when 590 girls received name. By today's standards, that seems like a lot, however, given that 64286 boys were also called Michael in the same year, less than 1% of all American Michaels were girls.

What happened then? Our guess is that the rise of Michaela, the tenacity of Michael at the head of the boys' list, and the popularity of Michelle/Michele all conspired to knock Michael-for-girls off the list. And while boy-names-for-girls is a trend at the moment, similar sounding options like Myla, Micaiah, McCall, and McKinley have outshone it as an option. For now.

Given to just 15 girls in the US in a recent year, Michael is still sometimes chosen by Catholics as a female confirmation name, in honor of the saint.

Pronounced MY-kul.

As of October 2026, Michael ranked #8188 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #373 in 1975.