ninan.org

Michelle

Girls' name · Late 20th-century perennial

Living in the US
~772,100 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#465 among girls
Births in 2025
661 819,760 since 1880
Typical age
50 years, median

Michelle popularity over time

Michelle rank by birth year, 1915–2025Michelle ranked #4,274 in 1915 and #465 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #2, in 1968.#10#100#1,000#465best #2 in 1968192019401960198020002020
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1915–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

Michelle was used most in 1969, when 34,457 babies were given the name. It first clears the SSA reporting threshold in 1915. Across the record, 54 years put Michelle in the top 100.

The 2025 position is #465, on 661 births. Over ten years the count has fallen 61%. It slipped 56 places against the previous year.

Babies named Michelle per yearPeaks at 34,457 births in 1969.34,457 in 19690192019401960198020002020
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Michelle?

About 772,100 people named Michelle are alive in the United States today. SSA has recorded 819,760 births under the name since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Michelle?

The typical living Michelle is 50 years old. More of them were born in the 1970s than in any other decade. By the site’s era rules that makes Michelle a late 20th-century perennial name.

Your Michelle

Ages of living people named MichelleHalf of living Michelles are older than 50 and half younger.median 50020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Michelle is most common

Relative to births, Maryland carries 2.0× the national share of Michelles. California, New Jersey and New York follow.

Where Michelle is used more than average5 states use the name Michelle more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: 1.7× the national rateNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: 1.5× the national rateNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: 1.8× the national rateNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: 1.9× the national rateCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: 2.0× the national rateMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: not over-representedDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Michelle is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Maryland 276 2.0×
California 2,059 1.9×
New Jersey 401 1.8×
New York 869 1.7×
Nevada 98 1.5×

Michelle in England and Wales

In England and Wales, Michelle ranked #346 in 2025 on 124 births.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Michelle comes from

Borrowed from French Michelle, feminine form of French Michel (“Michael”), Hebrew מִיכָאֵל (“who is like God?”). Doublet of Michaela.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Michelle

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Michelle Obama lawyer and former First Lady of the United States 1964 135
Michelle Bachelet president of Chile from (2006–2010; 2014–2018) 1951 119
Michelle Pfeiffer American actress 1958 101
Michelle Rodriguez American actress 1978 82
Michelle Yeoh Malaysian actress 1962 76
Michelle Trachtenberg American actress 1985–2025 60
Michelle Monaghan American actress 1976 59
Michelle Kwan American figure skater and diplomat 1980 48
Photo credits (8)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 16,268 in 1965 to 27,252 in 1966 — 1.7 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Names similar to Michelle

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/michelle.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).