How popular is the baby name Michael in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Michael.

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Popularity of the baby name Michael


Posts that mention the name Michael

Popular and unique baby names in Austria, 2024

Flag of Austria
Flag of Austria

Last year, the European country of Austria welcomed 77,238 babies — 37,463 girls and 39,775 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Emilia and Elias.

Here are Austria’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Emilia, 534 baby girls
  2. Emma, 523
  3. Marie, 518
  4. Anna, 516
  5. Sophia, 488
  6. Mia, 462
  7. Lena, 433
  8. Valentina, 422
  9. Lea, 398
  10. Laura, 397
  11. Hannah, 395
  12. Lina, 390
  13. Sophie, 380
  14. Johanna, 370
  15. Leonie, 364
  16. Nora, 332
  17. Luisa, 328
  18. Olivia, 325
  19. Lara, 315
  20. Elena, 305
  21. Ella, 297
  22. Amelie, 278
  23. Mila, 257
  24. Antonia, 256
  25. Helena, 253
  26. Magdalena, 251
  27. Valerie, 239
  28. Lia, 228
  29. Hanna, 225
  30. Miriam, 218
  31. Livia, 211
  32. Elisa, 210
  33. Isabella, 209
  34. Sara, 201
  35. Theresa, 200
  36. Alina, 197
  37. Julia, 196
  38. Elina, 187 (tie)
  39. Paulina, 187 (tie)
  40. Ida, 183 (tie)
  41. Leni, 183 (tie)
  42. Paula, 182 (tie)
  43. Sofia, 182 (tie)
  44. Sarah, 180
  45. Klara, 174
  46. Rosa, 173
  47. Flora, 171
  48. Aurelia, 170 (3-way tie)
  49. Emily, 170 (3-way tie)
  50. Katharina, 170 (3-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Elias, 671 baby boys
  2. Paul, 659
  3. Noah, 621
  4. Jakob, 620
  5. Maximilian, 599
  6. Felix, 584
  7. Leon, 561
  8. David, 500
  9. Jonas, 499
  10. Leo, 489
  11. Lukas, 453
  12. Tobias, 430
  13. Valentin, 424
  14. Moritz, 422
  15. Matteo, 394
  16. Theo, 366
  17. Anton, 363
  18. Fabian, 351
  19. Alexander, 349
  20. Julian, 338
  21. Liam, 332
  22. Simon, 329
  23. Samuel, 321
  24. Emil, 316
  25. Luca, 304
  26. Matthias, 282
  27. Luis, 280
  28. Raphael, 272
  29. Adam, 260
  30. Florian, 259
  31. Johannes, 252
  32. Gabriel, 248 (tie)
  33. Lorenz, 248 (tie)
  34. Emilio, 247
  35. Theodor, 233
  36. Finn, 231
  37. Oskar, 224
  38. Niklas, 222
  39. Leopold, 214
  40. Oliver, 212
  41. Benjamin, 202 (tie)
  42. Jonathan, 202 (tie)
  43. Sebastian, 196
  44. Ben, 192 (tie)
  45. Fabio, 192 (tie)
  46. Michael, 190
  47. Mateo, 185
  48. Kilian, 181
  49. Luka, 180
  50. Josef, 174

According to Statistics Austria, “12.5% of all newborn girls and 14.6% of all newborn boys were given one of the 10 most popular first names” in 2024.

At the other end of the spectrum are the thousands of names that were given to a single baby each last year. Here’s a selection:

Unique girl namesUnique boy names
Aorta, Beppa, Chisimdi, Desdina, Ekklesia, Febronia, Gustava, Hibat, Ikonija, Jolongi, Krinka, Lhanzey, Mrittika, Notburga, Ofri, Pinia, Rimpy, Songül, Tsvetelina, Uerda, Vanadis, Wranga, Yangtso, ZorjanaAerzu, Benneth, Cvijetin, Daphnis, Encho, Flavio, Gervin, Hanrui, Ireneus, Jandost, Kalsang, Linneo, Menippos, Nikolozi, Osimhen, Peyami, Reie, Shkelzen, Takuto, Utku, Veton, Wenz, Yetkin, Zhihmond

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Aorta — the word for the largest artery in the human body — used as a personal name before.

Notburga was the name of a medieval Austrian saint, and Osimhen may have been inspired by Nigerian soccer player Victor Osimhen.

Finally, here’s a link to Austria’s 2023 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Sources: First names of newborns – Statistics Austria (in German), Emilia and Elias favourite baby names in 2024 – Statistics Austria (pdf), Atlas der Vornamen – Statistics Austria, Demographic characteristics of newborns – Statistics Austria

Image: Adapted from Flag of Austria (public domain)


Where did the baby name Riggan come from in 2016?

The character Riggan Thomson from the movie "Birdman" (2014)
Riggan Thomson from “Birdman“

The rare name Riggan has appeared in the U.S. baby name data just once so far, in 2016:

  • 2018: unlisted
  • 2017: unlisted
  • 2016: 7 baby boys named Riggan [debut]
  • 2015: unlisted
  • 2014: unlisted

Where did it come from?

My guess is the dark comedy/drama Birdman, which was released in October of 2014.

The movie’s main character, Riggan Thomson (played by Michael Keaton), was a washed-up Hollywood actor who’d become famous for portraying the winged superhero Birdman in a trilogy of blockbuster films 20 years earlier. He was now trying to revive his career by starring in a self-written, self-directed Broadway adaptation of the Raymond Carver story “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.”

Birdman went on to win four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in early 2015.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Riggan?

Sources: Birdman – Wikipedia, Birdman (review) – RogerEbert.com, SSA

Image: Screenshot of Birdman

Top Hebrew baby names in Israel, 5785

Flag of Israel
Flag of Israel

The country of Israel releases two sets of baby name rankings: one for the Gregorian year (e.g., 2024), the other for the Hebrew year.

I don’t usually post the Hebrew-year rankings, but I was intrigued by the latest set, which was released a couple of weeks before the end of 5785 (Oct. 2024 to Sep. 2025, roughly).

Below are Israel’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names — both overall and among Jewish residents specifically — for the Hebrew year 5785:

Girls names

Top girl names, all babiesTop girl names, Jewish babies
Avigail
Miriam
Libi
Tamar
Sara
Lia
Yael
Ella
Ayala
Noa		Avigail
Tamar
Libi
Yael
Sara
Ella
Noa
Lia
Ayala
Esther

Boy names

Top boy names, all babiesTop boy names, Jewish babies
Muhammad
Yosef
Adam
David
Lavie/Lavi
Ariel
Omar
Rafael
Uri
Yehuda		Lavie/Lavi
Ariel
David
Rafael
Uri
Yehuda
Eliya
Ari
Eitan
Micha’el

The news release suggested that Lavi, which means “lion” in Hebrew, became the most popular name for Jewish boys due to the influence of Israel’s Operation Am KeLavi (“a people like a lion”), which was launched against Iran in June of 2025. (The war lasted 12 days.)

Except…Lavi has been close to the top spot for several years now. It ranked #2 among Jewish boys in both 2023 and 2020, for instance. So did the headlines really push Lavi to #1, or would it have ended up there regardless?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Israel (public domain)

What brought the baby name Devoe back in 1990?

American singer/rapper Ronnie DeVoe
Ronnie DeVoe of Bell Biv DeVoe

The rare name Devoe re-emerged in the U.S. baby name data in 1990:

  • 1992: unlisted
  • 1991: unlisted
  • 1990: 9 baby boys named Devoe
  • 1989: unlisted
  • 1988: unlisted

What brought it back that year?

The R&B/hip hop trio Bell Biv DeVoe, made up of Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie DeVoe — three former members of the ’80s boy band New Edition.

BBD’s two most successful singles, “Poison” and “Do Me,” both peaked at #3 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in 1990 (in June and September, respectively).

The group described its sound — and, in a sense, new jack swing itself — in the music video for “Poison”:

Our music is mentally hip-hop smoothed out on the R&B tip with a pop appeal to it.

The surname DeVoe has several possible derivations. In many cases, it can be traced back to the French surname DeVaux, which originally referred to someone from one of the various locations in France called Vaux, meaning “valleys.”

What are your thoughts on Devoe as a first name?

P.S. Michael Bivins went on to discover and manage both Boyz II Men (which included Wanyá Morris) and Another Bad Creation (whose biggest hit was “Iesha“).

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of the music video for “Poison”