Michaela
Michaela was given to 323 girls in 2025, #843 among girls’ names; 53,702 Americans have been recorded with it since 1921 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 52,400 Americans named Michaela and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 28 years old and half are between 21 and 32.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Michaela by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Michaela mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Michaela is “a female given name from Hebrew.”
From Michael + -a. Latinate feminine form of Michael, first appearing as an anglicisation of the Portuguese (“Micaela”) and Spanish (“Micaela”). Doublet of Michelle.
/mɪˈkeɪ.lə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Michaela?
#843 among girls’ names, 2025
Michaela fell from #496 in 2015 to #843 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.36 to 0.20 per 1,000.
3,405 babies in 1997, the peak
Michaela peaked in 1997, when 3,405 babies were given it (3,398 girls, #100 among girls’ names). The 323 births of 2025 are 9% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 323 | #843 | 0.20 |
| 2024 | 379 | #742 | 0.23 |
| 2023 | 459 | #638 | 0.29 |
| 2022 | 516 | #578 | 0.31 |
| 2021 | 523 | #579 | 0.32 |
| 2020 | 449 | #646 | 0.28 |
| 2019 | 492 | #614 | 0.29 |
| 2018 | 591 | #532 | 0.35 |
| 2017 | 608 | #517 | 0.35 |
| 2016 | 674 | #472 | 0.38 |
Every recorded year (94)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 647 | #496 | 0.36 |
| 2014 | 663 | #478 | 0.37 |
| 2013 | 744 | #409 | 0.42 |
| 2012 | 726 | #430 | 0.41 |
| 2011 | 778 | #406 | 0.44 |
| 2010 | 814 | #391 | 0.46 |
| 2009 | 876 | #368 | 0.48 |
| 2008 | 922 | #358 | 0.49 |
| 2007 | 971 | #340 | 0.51 |
| 2006 | 1,003 | #331 | 0.53 |
| 2005 | 1,153 | #287 | 0.62 |
| 2004 | 1,167 | #283 | 0.64 |
| 2003 | 1,380 | #237 | 0.76 |
| 2002 | 1,615 | #201 | 0.90 |
| 2001 | 1,827 | #178 | 1.0 |
| 2000 | 2,172 | #154 | 1.2 |
| 1999 | 2,657 | #125 | 1.5 |
| 1998 | 3,341 | #103 | 1.9 |
| 1997 | 3,398 | #100 | 2.0 |
| 1996 | 3,176 | #102 | 1.8 |
| 1995 | 3,083 | #107 | 1.8 |
| 1994 | 3,044 | #109 | 1.7 |
| 1993 | 1,853 | #169 | 1.0 |
| 1992 | 960 | #288 | 0.52 |
| 1991 | 783 | #336 | 0.42 |
| 1990 | 878 | #311 | 0.46 |
| 1989 | 998 | #269 | 0.54 |
| 1988 | 633 | #378 | 0.36 |
| 1987 | 535 | #417 | 0.31 |
| 1986 | 519 | #422 | 0.30 |
| 1985 | 508 | #434 | 0.30 |
| 1984 | 333 | #559 | 0.20 |
| 1983 | 293 | #605 | 0.18 |
| 1982 | 285 | #632 | 0.17 |
| 1981 | 243 | #696 | 0.15 |
| 1980 | 267 | #665 | 0.16 |
| 1979 | 225 | #734 | 0.14 |
| 1978 | 173 | #856 | 0.11 |
| 1977 | 170 | #865 | 0.11 |
| 1976 | 156 | #869 | 0.11 |
| 1975 | 120 | #1,010 | 0.08 |
| 1974 | 128 | #967 | 0.09 |
| 1973 | 111 | #1,051 | 0.08 |
| 1972 | 117 | #1,008 | 0.08 |
| 1971 | 127 | #991 | 0.08 |
| 1970 | 128 | #984 | 0.07 |
| 1969 | 139 | #895 | 0.08 |
| 1968 | 101 | #1,038 | 0.06 |
| 1967 | 114 | #956 | 0.07 |
| 1966 | 101 | #1,037 | 0.06 |
| 1965 | 106 | #1,018 | 0.06 |
| 1964 | 95 | #1,132 | 0.05 |
| 1963 | 84 | #1,197 | 0.04 |
| 1962 | 66 | #1,370 | 0.03 |
| 1961 | 72 | #1,313 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 53 | #1,534 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 54 | #1,472 | 0.03 |
| 1958 | 58 | #1,405 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 69 | #1,266 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 76 | #1,200 | 0.04 |
| 1955 | 74 | #1,161 | 0.04 |
| 1954 | 75 | #1,150 | 0.04 |
| 1953 | 62 | #1,236 | 0.03 |
| 1952 | 75 | #1,093 | 0.04 |
| 1951 | 60 | #1,210 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 37 | #1,543 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 38 | #1,500 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 36 | #1,565 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 30 | #1,776 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 37 | #1,456 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 27 | #1,609 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 24 | #1,729 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 23 | #1,819 | 0.02 |
| 1942 | 28 | #1,580 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 17 | #2,070 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 13 | #2,381 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 19 | #1,852 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 14 | #2,302 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 12 | #2,530 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 6 | #4,076 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,649 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 7 | #4,144 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 5 | #5,470 | under 0.01 |
| 1921 | 5 | #5,643 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Michaela a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Michaela has been given almost only to girls: 69 boys in 94 years of records.
Girls and boys named Michaela: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Michaela, and how old are they?
52,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 53,702 Americans ever recorded as Michaela. The median Michaela alive today is 28 years old; half are between 21 and 32.
The 2020 Census counted 48,489 people named Michaela (48,346 women and girls, 143 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 50,239 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 86 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 912 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,140 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 17,800 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 24,500 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 7,020 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Michaela born?
The states with the most babies named Michaela are California, New York and Texas, with 38% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 40 | #773 | 0.7× |
| New York | 35 | #491 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 32 | #912 | 0.7× |
| Florida | 22 | #755 | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 18 | #441 | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 14 | #736 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 12 | #800 | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 11 | #836 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 11 | #883 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 10 | #940 | 1.0× |
Where Michaela is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Michaela is most over-represented in Rhode Island: since 1921 it was given 3.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Michaela with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 452,580 babies since 1880, Michaela is the fourth most given (12% of them). In 2025 it was given to 323 of their 1,287 babies (25%), the third most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Michaela
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Michaela and names like it
- Compare Michaela and MicheleBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sMichaela peaked in 1997.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Michaela since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Michaela: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1997The year the most babies were named Michaela.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Michaela alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with MMost given first.