Humanverse

Michaela vs Micole

American parents have registered 53,702 Michaelas since 1880, against 577 Micoles. Michaela is still ahead, with 323 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Michaela against Micole, 1880 to 2025 0 1k 2k 3k 4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Michaela Micole

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Michaela has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1921 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1972, when Michaela had 117 and Micole had 28.

Side by side

  Michaela Micole
Total US births 53,702577
Most in one year 3,40539
Babies in 2025 323under 5
Estimated living today 52,000560
Median age today 2742
Peak year 19971988
Best rank 100th girls2,700th girls
Rank in 2025 841stunranked
First recorded 19211968
Girls / boys 53,633 / 69577 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Micoles alive today are over 42; half the Michaelas are over 27. That is 15 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Michaela and Micole.