Humanverse

Michaeline vs Michele

American parents have registered 226,063 Micheles since 1880, against 936 Michaelines. Michele is still ahead, with 28 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Michaeline against Michele, 1880 to 2025 0 3k 6k 9k 12k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Michaeline Michele

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

Michele has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1905 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1919, when Michaeline had 21 and Michele had 28.

Side by side

  Michaeline Michele
Total US births 936226,063
Most in one year 4311,281
Babies in 2025 under 528
Estimated living today 580199,000
Median age today 7057
Peak year 19471968
Best rank 1,413th girls29th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked4,758th
First recorded 19131905
Girls / boys 936 / 0223,299 / 2,764

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 Michaelines alive today are over 70; half the Micheles are over 57. That is 13 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: Michaeline and Michele.