Name Generator

How popular is the name Michael?

Births per year, rank history and how many Michaels are alive today.

Michael (male) is currently the 85th most popular boys' name in England and Wales, with 626 babies given the name in 2024. The name peaked in 1944, when around 20,800 babies were given the name, the 3rd most popular that year. It has declined since 1944; the 2024 figure is roughly 3% of its peak. Numbers have been falling in recent years. At least 130,000 babies have been named Michael in England and Wales since 1904. Figures before 1996 are estimates. Common short forms of Michael include Mikey.

The Michael you are most likely to meet is around 63 years old. Half of all Michaels born in England and Wales are between 45 and 75, and there are at least 680,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 males, there's roughly a 90% chance that at least one of them will be called Michael.

How many babies are named Michael each year?

Where does Michael rank among boys' names?

Where this data comes from

Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.

One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.