Michelle
Michelle was given to 661 girls in 2025, #465 among girls’ names; 819,760 Americans have been recorded with it since 1915 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 761,000 Americans named Michelle and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 51 years old and half are between 40 and 58.
Michelle is the #15 most common first name among living American women and girls, by this estimate.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Michelle by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Michelle mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Michelle is “a female given name from Hebrew, popular from the 1960s to the 1990s.” Its etymology gives the senses “Michael” (Michel) and “who is like God?” (מִיכָאֵל).
Borrowed from French Michelle, feminine form of French Michel (“Michael”), Hebrew מִיכָאֵל (mikhaél, “who is like God?”). Doublet of Michaela.
/mɪˈʃɛl/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Michelle?
#465 among girls’ names, 2025
Michelle fell from #192 in 2015 to #465 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 1.0 to 0.41 per 1,000.
34,457 babies in 1969, the peak
Michelle peaked in 1969, when 34,457 babies were given it (34,319 girls, #2 among girls’ names). The 661 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 661 | #465 | 0.41 |
| 2024 | 775 | #409 | 0.48 |
| 2023 | 766 | #401 | 0.48 |
| 2022 | 827 | #377 | 0.50 |
| 2021 | 799 | #395 | 0.49 |
| 2020 | 923 | #336 | 0.57 |
| 2019 | 1,144 | #292 | 0.68 |
| 2018 | 1,249 | #263 | 0.73 |
| 2017 | 1,429 | #217 | 0.83 |
| 2016 | 1,562 | #209 | 0.88 |
Every recorded year (108)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,706 | #192 | 1.0 |
| 2014 | 1,751 | #188 | 1.0 |
| 2013 | 1,892 | #168 | 1.1 |
| 2012 | 1,935 | #162 | 1.1 |
| 2011 | 2,180 | #144 | 1.2 |
| 2010 | 2,510 | #125 | 1.4 |
| 2009 | 3,078 | #104 | 1.7 |
| 2008 | 3,343 | #101 | 1.8 |
| 2007 | 3,596 | #94 | 1.9 |
| 2006 | 4,090 | #81 | 2.2 |
| 2005 | 4,312 | #74 | 2.3 |
| 2004 | 4,720 | #66 | 2.6 |
| 2003 | 4,873 | #62 | 2.7 |
| 2002 | 4,950 | #58 | 2.8 |
| 2001 | 5,033 | #59 | 2.8 |
| 2000 | 5,545 | #52 | 3.1 |
| 1999 | 5,303 | #56 | 3.0 |
| 1998 | 5,562 | #55 | 3.1 |
| 1997 | 5,695 | #55 | 3.3 |
| 1996 | 6,598 | #47 | 3.8 |
| 1995 | 7,392 | #41 | 4.2 |
| 1994 | 8,639 | #33 | 4.8 |
| 1993 | 10,193 | #31 | 5.6 |
| 1992 | 11,512 | #25 | 6.2 |
| 1991 | 12,213 | #22 | 6.5 |
| 1990 | 13,425 | #22 | 7.1 |
| 1989 | 13,376 | #22 | 7.3 |
| 1988 | 13,339 | #21 | 7.5 |
| 1987 | 13,034 | #21 | 7.5 |
| 1986 | 13,303 | #23 | 7.8 |
| 1985 | 13,973 | #22 | 8.1 |
| 1984 | 15,499 | #17 | 9.2 |
| 1983 | 16,838 | #13 | 10.1 |
| 1982 | 17,765 | #11 | 10.5 |
| 1981 | 17,781 | #11 | 10.7 |
| 1980 | 19,119 | #10 | 11.5 |
| 1979 | 19,266 | #10 | 12.0 |
| 1978 | 18,856 | #9 | 12.3 |
| 1977 | 19,540 | #7 | 12.7 |
| 1976 | 19,550 | #6 | 13.3 |
| 1975 | 22,665 | #6 | 15.5 |
| 1974 | 25,826 | #3 | 17.6 |
| 1973 | 26,935 | #3 | 18.5 |
| 1972 | 29,285 | #2 | 19.3 |
| 1971 | 33,160 | #2 | 19.9 |
| 1970 | 34,047 | #4 | 19.5 |
| 1969 | 34,319 | #2 | 20.3 |
| 1968 | 33,223 | #2 | 20.3 |
| 1967 | 30,827 | #3 | 18.7 |
| 1966 | 27,159 | #4 | 16.0 |
| 1965 | 16,215 | #18 | 9.2 |
| 1964 | 16,180 | #23 | 8.5 |
| 1963 | 14,383 | #26 | 7.5 |
| 1962 | 13,353 | #31 | 6.8 |
| 1961 | 12,741 | #34 | 6.3 |
| 1960 | 9,893 | #39 | 4.9 |
| 1959 | 8,776 | #47 | 4.3 |
| 1958 | 7,458 | #56 | 3.7 |
| 1957 | 5,982 | #79 | 2.9 |
| 1956 | 5,327 | #88 | 2.7 |
| 1955 | 4,526 | #97 | 2.3 |
| 1954 | 4,432 | #94 | 2.3 |
| 1953 | 3,631 | #107 | 1.9 |
| 1952 | 2,881 | #124 | 1.6 |
| 1951 | 2,133 | #151 | 1.2 |
| 1950 | 1,633 | #174 | 1.0 |
| 1949 | 1,248 | #213 | 0.73 |
| 1948 | 1,044 | #230 | 0.61 |
| 1947 | 914 | #248 | 0.52 |
| 1946 | 755 | #263 | 0.48 |
| 1945 | 499 | #307 | 0.38 |
| 1944 | 405 | #341 | 0.31 |
| 1943 | 370 | #375 | 0.27 |
| 1942 | 233 | #483 | 0.17 |
| 1941 | 133 | #612 | 0.11 |
| 1940 | 92 | #728 | 0.08 |
| 1939 | 59 | #921 | 0.05 |
| 1938 | 55 | #963 | 0.05 |
| 1937 | 36 | #1,217 | 0.03 |
| 1936 | 29 | #1,367 | 0.03 |
| 1935 | 27 | #1,435 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 24 | #1,536 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 28 | #1,392 | 0.03 |
| 1932 | 10 | #2,977 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 12 | #2,527 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,513 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 15 | #2,268 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 10 | #3,090 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 12 | #2,804 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 11 | #2,988 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 14 | #2,571 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 11 | #3,093 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 6 | #4,786 | under 0.01 |
| 1922 | 9 | #3,576 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 9 | #3,521 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 7 | #4,113 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 5 | #5,342 | under 0.01 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,752 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Michelle a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Michelle has been given almost only to girls: 3,250 boys in 108 years of records.
Girls and boys named Michelle: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Michelle, and how old are they?
761,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 819,760 Americans ever recorded as Michelle. The median Michelle alive today is 51 years old; half are between 40 and 58.
The 2020 Census counted 757,098 people named Michelle (755,820 women and girls, 1,278 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 773,069 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 998 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 97,500 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 381,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 200,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 66,200 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 15,400 |
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 Michelle born?
The states with the most babies named Michelle are California, New York and Texas, with 29% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 115,051 | #302 | 1.3× |
| New York | 69,822 | #302 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 49,311 | #504 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 47,797 | #285 | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 44,293 | #634 | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 40,193 | #610 | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 39,758 | #627 | 1.1× |
| Florida | 29,850 | #379 | 1.0× |
| New Jersey | 25,296 | #249 | 1.0× |
| Massachusetts | 25,008 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Michelle is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Michelle is most over-represented in California: since 1915 it was given 1.3 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 Michelle 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 1,056,167 babies since 1880, Michelle is the most given (78% of them). In 2025 it was given to 661 of their 742 babies (89%), again the most given.
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 Michelle
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 Michelle and names like it
- Compare Michelle and MicheleBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sMichelle peaked in 1969.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Michelle since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Michelle: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1969The year the most babies were named Michelle.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Michelle alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with MMost given first.