Humanverse

Michele vs Michelene

American parents have registered 226,063 Micheles since 1880, against 750 Michelenes. Michele is still ahead, with 28 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Michele Michelene

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 1939, when Michele had 57 and Michelene had 6.

Side by side

  Michele Michelene
Total US births 226,063750
Most in one year 11,28133
Babies in 2025 28under 5
Estimated living today 199,000610
Median age today 5762
Peak year 19681950
Best rank 29th girls1,626th girls
Rank in 2025 4,758thunranked
First recorded 19051939
Girls / boys 223,299 / 2,764750 / 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 Michelenes alive today are over 62; half the Micheles are over 57. That is 5 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: Michele and Michelene.