Humanverse

Misael vs Mishael

American parents have registered 10,411 Misaels since 1880, against 647 Mishaels. Misael is still ahead, with 359 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Misael against Mishael, 1880 to 2025 0 100 200 300 400 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Misael Mishael

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

Misael has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1955 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1977, when Misael had 25 and Mishael had 12.

Side by side

  Misael Mishael
Total US births 10,411647
Most in one year 38525
Babies in 2025 35925
Estimated living today 10,000630
Median age today 1722
Peak year 20062021
Best rank 616th boys4,936th boys
Rank in 2025 733rd5,608th
First recorded 19551969
Girls / boys 16 / 10,395187 / 460

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 Mishaels alive today are over 22; half the Misaels are over 17. That is 5 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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